All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.Special.Presentation.S01E06.Mysteries.of.the.Outer.Realms.1080p.HULU.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: Billions of planets
throughout the galaxy

NARRATOR: Billions of planets
throughout the galaxy capable of supporting life.

capable of supporting life.

MICHAEL DENNIN: The discovery
of exoplanets changed our view

of the potential for life
in the universe.

NARRATOR: Are there other
intelligent species

beyond Earth?

MICHIO KAKU: Civilizations
could have risen and fallen

even before the Earth
was formed.

NARRATOR: Could the evidence
of their existence

be closer than we think?

DAVID CHILDRESS:
The astronauts talked about

seeing extraterrestrial
objects on the Moon.

NARRATOR: And might the proof
have been with us all along?

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Planets in this Goldilocks Zone

have life very similar to ours.

The only question is,
was it them who came here

thousands of years ago?

NARRATOR: There is a doorway
in the universe.

Beyond it
is the promise of truth.

It demands we question
everything

It demands we question
everything we have ever been taught.

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future
is right before our eyes.

The future
is right before our eyes. We are not alone.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

Cape Canaveral, Florida.

April 18th, 2018.

At 6:51 p.m.,

a Falcon 9 rocket
blasts off on a mission

to deploy a NASA
space telescope into orbit...

The Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite, or TESS.

TESS is like a survey
of the whole sky,

a survey of the nearest
100 light-years or so

of planets that would be
around these stars.

NARRATOR: In the first
four years of its mission,

TESS collected a range
of scientific data,

and found 66 worlds
beyond our solar system,

called exoplanets.

SUMMERS: Exoplanets
are planets that exist

outside of our solar system.

We're certainly in an exoplanet
golden age of discovery.

Twenty years ago,
we didn't know

if there were other Earth-like
planets in the universe.

And now, we can't imagine
how we could discover things

at a higher rate and still
try to make sense of it.

It's such a struggle just
to keep up with the discoveries

that we're making right now.

NARRATOR: It is only recently
with the development

of deep-space satellites
and high-powered telescopes

that a more accurate
understanding of nearby planets,

especially planets capable
of supporting human life,

has been possible.

But it wasn't so long ago
that the notion

of Earth-like planets
existing in our galaxy

wasn't simply unknown--
it was considered blasphemy.

When the 16th century Italian
philosopher and cosmologist

Giordano Bruno
expressed his belief

in "an infinity of worlds"
and raised the possibility

that other planets
could harbor life,

he was charged with heresy
and burned at the stake.

KAKU: It was heretical,
revolutionary to believe

that there could
be alien life out there.

Giordano Bruno was burned alive

in the streets of Rome,
and what was his crime?

To say that there are aliens
out there on other planets.

WILLIAM HENRY: You weren't
allowed to think like that.

It challenged
all their predispositions

It challenged
all their predispositions and their power structure.

and their power structure.

No, there are
no other worlds.

There's nothing out there.

But there is something
out there,

there's no question about it.

NARRATOR: As recently
as the early 1990s,

astronomers were still unable
to detect these distant planets,

even with
high-powered telescopes.

It's hard to see an exoplanet.

Imagine trying to look at
a firefly next to a spotlight.

It's incredibly difficult
because stars

shine by their own light,
they give off their own light.

But planets reflect light.

A typical star is about
ten billion times brighter

than a planet.

NARRATOR: Thanks to remarkable
advances in technology,

astronomers made the very first
discovery of an exoplanet

in 1992 using
an Earth-based telescope.

But that search kicked
into high gear in 2009

with the launch of Kepler,
the first space telescope

specially designed
to find exoplanets.

And in 2018,
Kepler was replaced

by the even more powerful,
TESS.

DENNIN: So, one of
the really cool things

about TESS, the satellite
that NASA's put up,

is basically it was specifically
designed to detect exoplanets

by what's called
the transit method,

which is where when a planet
goes in front of a star,

it blocks the light briefly,

and you really see
the light blink on and off.

AMY TEITEL: That telltale dip
is what tells you

there might be something
that's passing in front of it.

The regularity tells you
about the orbit,

which is the easiest way
to actually start looking

for new planets.

NARRATOR: Although the initial
objective in the search

for exoplanets was simply
to determine how many stars

in our galaxy might have
planets in orbit around them,

the actual results
were staggering.

the actual results were staggering.
Our galaxy has around 400 billion stars.

Our galaxy has
around 400 billion stars.

From what we've seen
so far is, on average,

every star has at least
one planet.

So, that means that
there are 400 billion--

at least--
planets in our galaxy.

NARRATOR: 400 billion planets?
In the Milky Way galaxy alone?

The discovery of such
an extraordinary number

of exoplanets
represents a radical change

in our understanding
of the universe.

But even more radical
is the notion

that millions of those planets
might actually be capable

of not just supporting life,
but generating it.

And to that end,
astronomers and astrophysicists

actively search for planets
in a region they refer to

as the Goldilocks Zone.

DENNIN: The Goldilocks Zone
is exactly that range

for a given star of where
water's gonna be liquid

on a given type of planet.

KAKU: We want a planet
that is not too close,

not too far from
the mother star, but just right.

Planets that may have oxygen
and H2O-- water--

that may make possible
an atmosphere...

...and maybe even life.

NARRATOR: Based upon
current observations,

scientists are astounded
by the number

of potentially habitable planets

that exist
in the Goldilocks Zone.

SUMMERS: With at least
400 billion planets

in our galaxy, if you just
look at 1% of that,

you're still talking
about billions of planets

that could potentially
be habitable.

This is exciting
'cause we once thought

This is exciting 'cause we once thought
that we were the only game in town,

that we were the only game
in town,

that can only exist
on the planet Earth.

DENNIN: The discovery
of exoplanets,

I think it's really
changed our view

of the potential for life
in the universe.

Fundamentally I think
most scientists would now agree

that there is some form of life
elsewhere in the universe.

NARRATOR: But in spite
of the abundance

of habitable exoplanets,
many scientists

still cling to the notion
that the only kind of life

likely to exist outside of Earth
is microbial or bacterial.

They are resistant to what they
claim are far-fetched notions

that these planets might not
only contain more sophisticated

or evolved life-forms,
but intelligent life-forms--

some much more evolved
or technologically advanced

than our own.

Think about it-- the universe
is about 13.8 billion years old.

The Earth
is 4.6 billion years old.

Civilizations over
billions of years

Civilizations over
billions of years could have risen and fallen

could have risen and fallen

even before the Earth
was formed.

NARRATOR: Although the
realization that the galaxy

is teeming with Earth-like
planets has triggered

a revolution in conventional
scientific thinking,

as far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

it merely confirms what
they have believed all along.

TSOUKALOS:
The discoveries of exoplanets

over the past few years have
been absolutely extraordinary.

I remember that the first time
they discovered

this first exoplanet,
and me and my colleagues

were like-- were saying, okay,
this will be the first of many.

And now, apparently as many
as three exoplanets

are being discovered
on a daily basis.

So, what we've said all along--
that Earth is not unique

in this gigantic universe--
turns out to be correct.

This raises the question
that we've been bringing up,

that for thousands of years
there's evidence

of some type of visitation
from other civilizations.

Hopefully, our sciences,

able to now detect exoplanets,
will allow us to pinpoint

some of these actual
home worlds where aliens

have been visiting us.

TSOUKALOS: I propose
that most of those planets

TSOUKALOS: I propose that most of those planets
that are in this Goldilocks Zone

that are in this
Goldilocks Zone

that are in this
Goldilocks Zone have life very similar to ours.

have life very similar to ours.

The only question is,
was it them who came here

thousands of years ago?

NARRATOR: Could it be
that Earth was visited

by beings who inhabited
a life-sustaining exoplanet?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is a resounding
"yes," and they claim

the proof can be found by
carefully examining everything

from ancient carvings,
to the religious beliefs

of ancient cultures
from across the globe.

NARRATOR:
La Silla Observatory, Chile.

2011.

Astronomers
announce the discovery

of a large Earth-like planet
orbiting a star

in the constellation Orion.

The planet is located
in the Goldilocks Zone,

and the star it orbits
is very similar to our own,

making it an ideal candidate
for extraterrestrial life.

This is exciting 'cause we want
to have a stable solar system

like the planet Earth,
that's the goal.

NARRATOR:
As far as ancient astronaut theorists are concerned,

this may be the most compelling
exoplanet discovery yet,

because throughout the world,
numerous ancient cultures

have told stories
of otherworldly visitors

coming from Orion,
and even built

their most important structures
in alignment

with that constellation.

TSOUKALOS:
All around the world,

there are these
ancient structures

that have been built
in the form of Orion.

One example that comes to mind
is the Great Pyramid of Giza,

where the three pyramids
are aligned

where the three pyramids are aligned
according to the belt stars of Orion.

according to
the belt stars of Orion.

But also,
in the American Southwest,

there are structures that
are in reference to Orion.

Native American myths talk
specifically about visitors

Native American myths talk specifically about visitors
who came here from the Orion constellation.

who came here from
the Orion constellation.

The fact that Orion's
constellation exists

in magnificent archaeological
monuments on Earth

indicates to me
that someone at some point

taught our ancestors where and
how to build these structures

to illustrate
where they are from.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the exoplanet

discovered in the Orion
constellation is the same place

where extraterrestrial visitors
to Earth came from

where extraterrestrial visitors
to Earth came from thousands of years ago?

thousands of years ago?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

such an audacious notion
is a very real possibility.

And they also insist that Orion
is not the only star system

And they also insist that Orion
is not the only star system from where aliens may have come.

from where aliens may have come.

All over the world,
we have different cultures

who identify with certain
star systems as their origins.

The Quetchua people of Peru,

they believe that
we're from the Pleiades.

In Africa, we have the Dogan,
who are saying

that our origin is actually
with the Sirius star system.

Various cultures have
imagined they have come

from specific places--
the Pleiades or Sirius.

Well, that would be
a planet near the star system,

suggesting that,
at least in mythology,

that there are planets there
that could be inhabited

by creatures like us.

NARRATOR: While many
ancient cultures

pointed to distant
star systems

as the homes of their gods,
ancient astronaut theorists

suggest that one of the oldest
human civilizations,

the Sumerians, left records
of otherworldly beings

that came from a planet
right in our own solar system--

a planet that until
very recently

a planet that until
very recently was thought not to exist.

was thought not to exist.

Author Zechariah Sitchin
publishes his landmark book,

The 12th Planet,
the first of over a dozen books

based upon
Sitchin's translations

based upon
Sitchin's translations of ancient Sumerian texts.

of ancient Sumerian texts.

The 12th Planet
ultimately reshapes the way

millions of people view
the history of life on Earth.

In it, Sitchin claims
that ancient Sumerians

In it, Sitchin claims that ancient Sumerians
wrote about an extraterrestrial race

wrote about
an extraterrestrial race

that once visited Earth--
the Anunnaki.

The term Anunnaki
is essentially interchangeable

with extraterrestrial,
because the word Anunnaki itself

means, "those who from
the heavens came."

MARTELL: There's a whole
pantheon of Anunnaki, basically.

There was Anu,
who is essentially the king

of all the Anunnaki, and then
his two sons, Enlil and Enki.

When we look in a lot
of the Sumerian tablets,

they seemed to have come
from a much larger planet,

a reddish, glowing planet.

HENRY: One of the great
questions about the Anunnaki is,

where did they come from?

Well, Zechariah went back
into the ancient texts

and began to build
a theory that the Anunnaki

came from an as yet
undiscovered 12th planet

in our solar system
that he called Nibiru.

MARTELL: Nibiru is described
as a much larger planet

than Earth, and it has
a very elliptical orbit.

More like a large
egg-shaped orbit.

The kicker here is that it
goes once around the sun

every 3,600 years.

So, a solar year for them
is 3,600 of our years.

CHILDRESS: Sitchin believed
that there was a time

during this 3,600-year orbit
when this planet

was actually
relatively close to the Earth.

And Sitchin then theorized
the Anunnaki

would then fire their rockets,

and then they would come here
to Earth,

and that this was how they
were interacting with humans.

NARRATOR: For decades,
astronomers claimed

that no such planet could exist
in our solar system.

that no such planet could exist in our solar system.
But in 2016, Caltech astronomers

But in 2016,
Caltech astronomers

Konstantin Batygin
and Mike Brown

made a discovery that could
prove this theory wrong.

Batygin and Brown were using
an interesting method

of looking for other planets
in the solar system.

Namely, they were
looking at dwarf planets

and distant Kuiper belt objects
to see how they move.

If they exhibit
any strange behavior,

astronomers can use that
to theorize new planets.

And what they found was
a theoretical planet-sized mass

orbiting in a hugely elliptical
orbit around the sun.

CHILDRESS: Astronomers
have often suspected,

because of certain gravitational
anomalies and things,

that there is still
some other planet

far out in our solar system,
beyond Pluto.

Astronomers call
this other planet Planet X,

and it could be
a very large planet.

Astronomers cannot see it,

but I would suspect
that astronomers

will eventually discover it,
and prove that it exists.

NARRATOR: Batygin and Brown
estimate that Planet X

has a highly elliptical orbit
and takes thousands of years

to make a single trip
around our sun.

This matches exactly
what Zechariah Sitchin found

in his translation of
the ancient Sumerian tablets

concerning an extra planet
in our solar system.

HENRY: The thing about it is,
is that if we discover Planet X,

then we will also discover
the Anunnaki.

So, they're absolutely entwined.

The idea of the Anunnaki

The idea of the Anunnaki
and the discovery of Planet X

and the discovery
of Planet X

and the discovery
of Planet X will prove one another.

will prove one another.

NARRATOR:
Could the Anunnaki gods

NARRATOR: Could the Anunnaki gods
that visited the ancient Sumerians

that visited
the ancient Sumerians

really be from the same Planet X

that astronomers
have recently discovered?

And has Earth in fact
played host

to alien visitors
from multiple worlds?

Perhaps further clues
of extraterrestrial contact

can be found by examining
the accounts of a strange race

of sky gods that is said to have
come from the star Sirius.

NARRATOR:
Mali, Africa. 1931.

French anthropologist
Marcel Griaule

French anthropologist Marcel Griaule
treks through the forbidding desert

treks through
the forbidding desert

in search of the mysterious
Dogon tribe.

When he finds them,
he becomes fascinated

by their culture
and traditions.

As Griaule starts
collecting Dogon legends,

he notices an eerie similarity
to ancient tales

found across the globe--

tales of amphibious gods,
in this case called Nommo,

who came from the sky,
lived in the sea,

and helped mankind.

They describe
these Nommos as being

very like mermaid
or mermen-like,

but bequeathing lots
of knowledge of astronomy,

math, and science
to this ancient race.

The Dogon would say
that the Nommo

The Dogon would say that the Nommo
were these extraterrestrial gods,

were these extraterrestrial
gods,

but they needed a watery
environment to live in,

though they could come on land.

NARRATOR: Griaule learns
that their arrival is known

NARRATOR: Griaule learns
that their arrival is known as "The Day of the Fish."

as "The Day of the Fish."

The Dogon actually said,

"Well, this was our
creator god, Nommo,

"who descended from the sky
in a loud whirlwind of a storm

of thunder, smoke,
and lightning."

NARRATOR: But what struck
Griaule and shocked the world

weren't the Dogon legends
themselves,

but where they said
their amphibious gods came from.

A star that no one on Earth
knew existed until 1862--

long after the Dogon claimed
they knew of its existence.

CHILDRESS: In the 1930s,
when French anthropologists

were first discussing the Nommo
with these Dogon priests,

the Dogon priests said
that the Nommo were coming

from the star system of Sirius.

Well, the French anthropologists
were amazed at that,

Well, the French anthropologists
were amazed at that, and were confused as well.

and were confused as well.

NARRATOR:
According to the Dogon,

their gods didn't come
from Sirius A--

a star that is clearly
visible in the evening sky--

a star that is clearly
visible in the evening sky-- but from its tiny companion,

but from its tiny companion,

a dying star called Sirius B
that can only be seen

with advanced,
high-powered telescopes.

Sirius A is the brightest star
in the sky

because it is very luminous,

and it is also
fairly close to the Earth.

In astronomy,
it is a known fact

In astronomy, it is a known fact
that there is a Sirius A and a Sirius B.

that there is a Sirius A
and a Sirius B.

Sirius A can be seen,
and Sirius B,

for us, is invisible,
because it's just too small.

for us, is invisible,
because it's just too small. Now, the Dogon knew

Now, the Dogon knew

about the invisible
companion star to Sirius.

How did they know?

NARRATOR: For thousands
of years, Sirius A

has played an outsized role
in the imagination of Greeks,

Persians, Hindus, Romans,

Polynesians,
and countless others.

The Egyptians even based
their calendar on Sirius A.

And some believe they aligned
the Giza pyramids

to Orion's belt,
which points to Sirius A.

Villages along the Nile,
and along the Euphrates,

ancient Mesopotamia,
they lined up

ancient Mesopotamia,
they lined up their village dwellings

their village dwellings

to mimic the constellation
in which Sirius sat.

Sirius is one
of the closest stars to us.

Sirius is one
of the closest stars to us. It's 8.6 light-years away.

It's 8.6 light-years away.

Unlike the sun, which has
a beautiful golden color,

Unlike the sun, which has
a beautiful golden color, Sirius is a bluish white color,

Sirius is a bluish white color,

indicating it's much hotter
than the surface of the sun,

and that corresponds to it being
more massive than the sun

and that corresponds to it being
more massive than the sun and burning hotter.

and burning hotter.

and burning hotter.
It'll have a shorter lifespan.

It'll have
a shorter lifespan.

NARRATOR: But how could
the Dogon have known

about the existence
of Sirius B?

Could they have at one time
been in possession

of advanced technology?

Or could there be another,
even more profound explanation?

The Dogon had
an amazing degree of knowledge

about the Sirius system.
They knew that the orbits

of the two stars were about
50 years' period,

of the two stars were about
50 years' period, and that the invisible star

and that the invisible star

was very dense
and past its prime.

was very dense and past its prime.
They also knew that the brighter one

They also knew
that the brighter one

They also knew that the brighter one
was a larger star than the sun.

was a larger star
than the sun.

NARRATOR: The Dogon
also knew that Sirius B

is about the size of Earth
and spins on its axis.

There is no logical explanation
for why the Dogon tribe

knew about the Sirius
star system naturally.

knew about the Sirius star system naturally.
We didn't have telescopes in those days.

We didn't have telescopes
in those days.

How did they know this?

How did they know this?
It's as if an ET came here

It's as if an ET came here

It's as if an ET came here
and just told them all about that.

and just told them
all about that.

and just told them
all about that. It's an amazing story.

It's an amazing story.

KAKU: One theory
is maybe the aliens

gave them this knowledge.

It can't be ruled out.

It can't be ruled out.
That's one possibility,

That's one possibility,

because they got it
right on the dot.

NARRATOR: But if a race
of amphibious Nommo

came from Sirius B
and gave the Dogon

came from Sirius B
and gave the Dogon such gifts of knowledge,

such gifts of knowledge,

did they only visit
this one desert tribe?

Or did they visit other peoples
in other lands?

Or did they visit other peoples in other lands?
TSOUKALOS: It would be one thing

TSOUKALOS:
It would be one thing

if there's only one legend
of a fish-man worldwide.

But the Nommo is one story

of dozens of amphibious
bringers of knowledge

of dozens of amphibious
bringers of knowledge to our ancestors.

to our ancestors.

The ancient Hindus
talk about this,

the ancient Greeks,
they all had these fish people

that, during the day,
taught mankind,

and then at night they wandered
back into the ocean

and then at night they wandered
back into the ocean to just emerge the next day.

to just emerge the next day.

NARRATOR: If the Nommo
from Sirius B

visited numerous
ancient cultures,

is it possible that some
physical evidence survived?

Sierra Leone, Africa.

The early 1990s.

As civil war
rages across the country,

rebels begin forcing villagers

to mine so-called
"blood diamonds."

But from deep within the Earth
emerges a vast treasure

they weren't expecting.

Mysterious figures ranging
from five to ten inches tall...

...often with reptilian
or amphibian features.

They're very strange statues.
Some are clay.

Some are of granite
or limestone.

They are humans
and human figures

with lizard heads.

There are hundreds of them.

NARRATOR: Archaeologists
date the statues,

known as the Nomoli,
to around 500 years old,

when Europeans
first came into contact

with the people
of Sierra Leone.

But researchers point out
that the statues

were found buried
as much as 150 feet deep

which would suggest that
they are extremely ancient.

Normally, the deeper you go,
the more ancient things are.

That indicates great antiquity.

BEN VONDERHEIDE:
We know that Angelo Pitoni

was able to date the strata
to 17,000 years old.

was able to date the strata to 17,000 years old.
We ask the chiefs and they'll tell us

We ask the chiefs
and they'll tell us

they could be even older.

they could be even older.
NARRATOR: 17,000 years old?

NARRATOR: 17,000 years old?

If true, it would make
the Nomoli statues

among the oldest
man-made artifacts ever found,

and date them
to 12,000 years

before the first known
civilizations on Earth.

Could these curious artifacts

and the Dogon tribe's
intimate knowledge

of a far-off star system
provide evidence

of contact in the ancient past
with beings from Sirius B?

of contact in the ancient past with beings from Sirius B?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes,

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest there's proof
of other habitable planets--

most notably a star system that
many cultures across the globe

most notably a star system that
many cultures across the globe believe they originated from.

believe they originated from.

NARRATOR: Maui, Hawaii.

October 19, 2017.

Scientists at the University
of Hawaii Haleakala Observatory

Scientists at the University
of Hawaii Haleakala Observatory detect a strange object

detect a strange object

detect a strange object
traveling through our solar system.

traveling through
our solar system.

They initially catalog it
as an asteroid,

but after further examination,
researchers observe

that the object accelerated
as it approached the sun,

acting more like a comet,

but without any other
comet-like characteristics.

The find forces astronomers
to reclassify it

as something entirely new--
an interstellar object.

KAREN MEECH: We'd never seen
anything like this

in the solar system before.

in the solar system before.
We get an estimate of its size

We get an estimate
of its size

at about 800 meters,
or half a kilometer in length.

Roughly a cigar-like shape.

It was moving very fast,

a little more than
195,000 miles per hour.

You get a chill sometimes
when you understand something

is very important,
or is really exciting.

And that's what I felt
with this object.

NARRATOR: Our Milky Way galaxy
is estimated to consist

of 100,000 million stars,
each indicating the presence

of a solar system.

Because the distances
between them are so vast,

astronomers believed it
was impossible for an object

from another solar system
to reach our own, until now.

It just came from
outside our solar system,

meaning it wasn't material
from our star being created.

It's from a different
star system, somewhere else.

That's historic
that we've actually seen it.

We now know objects can travel
from one star system to another.

NARRATOR: Researchers dubbed
the interstellar visitor

Oumuamua, a Hawaiian term

meaning "a messenger
from afar arriving first."

Is it possible that
the interstellar visitor

Is it possible that
the interstellar visitor was in fact a messenger?

was in fact a messenger?

One sent on a mission
to our solar system?

MICHAEL SALLA:
Different scientists have analyzed the data

and deduced that it's something
very different

to an asteroid or a comet.

So, the scientific data
does point to it

actually being
some artificial creation.

We've had open speculation

about how this thing might be
an interstellar spacecraft.

Talk from a Harvard professor.

NARRATOR: The chair of Harvard's
astronomy department,

NARRATOR: The chair of Harvard's astronomy department,
Dr. Avi Loeb, noted that the object

Dr. Avi Loeb,
noted that the object

seemed to follow the propulsion
patterns of a new technology

that is currently being tested
for future space missions...

...known as solar sail
propulsion.

Large reflective sails
capture sunlight

to propel a craft
through the vacuum of space.

You can design
essentially photon sails.

So, the idea has been to make
a material

that reflects photons--
which is light--

very efficiently.

You deploy this,
and you basically accelerate

under starlight,
and then you just cruise.

NARRATOR: Was similar
alien technology

used to propel Oumuamua?

BRUCE FENTON:
It makes you wonder,

was that a targeted mission,

some sort of probe

that has been sent in
to look for life?

Before man actually went
to the Moon and walked on it,

we sent a lot of probes
around the Moon to look at it.

And it's quite likely
that some version of NASA

from some other star system

could send a probe
here to Earth.

NARRATOR: The trajectory
of the interstellar object

took it past the sun,
where it made a turn

and then ran parallel
to Earth's orbit.

It traveled between
our planet and Mars

before it began its journey
out of our solar system.

When Oumuamua arrived,
nobody knew where it came from.

Then in 2018, an astronomer

at the University
of Hertfordshire

retraced its movements
and discovered

retraced its movements and discovered
that it came from the Pleiades.

that it came
from the Pleiades.

We have to ask, is it possible

that it was actually sent
from the Pleiades?

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

the revelation that Oumuamua
traveled to our solar system

from the area
of the Pleiades star cluster

is highly intriguing.

The Pleiades figures
into the creation stories

of many ancient cultures
from all around the world,

where it was taught
that divine beings

came from these stars
to seed life on Earth.

If we look at the mythologies of
the Pleiades around the world,

there's some indication
that this star cluster

is some way related to
a visitation in ancient times.

NARRATOR: Located over
400 light-years from Earth

near the constellation
of Taurus, the Pleiades

is commonly recognized
as seven bright stars,

but actually
consists of thousands.

SETH SHOSTAK:
The Pleiades, everybody's heard of the Pleiades.

They're also known
as the Seven Sisters,

'cause if you have
really good eyesight,

you can see seven stars
in a very compact configuration

in the winter sky.

And in fact, there are a lot
more stars than seven.

There are actually
3,000 stars in the Pleiades.

KAKU: So, the Pleiades
is a star cluster.

They're not separated
by huge distances,

but they occur
in a small area.

That's different
from a constellation,

where the stars could be moving
in all sorts of directions

and are separated
by huge distances.

NARRATOR: The importance
of this massive star cluster

to ancient peoples is revealed

not only by their
creation stories,

but also in how they oriented
their most important structures.

All around the world,
we find ancient structures

that have alignments that infer
a relationship to the Pleiades.

Now, these can be found
in places like Chaco Canyon,

in Mesoamerica,
in various parts of the world.

It's clear
that the ancient people

wanted to incorporate the rising
of the Pleiades in some way

with the building
of these mega structures.

NARRATOR: Additionally,
ancient artwork and artifacts

pay homage to these same stars
with one depiction

dating back
an incredible 18,000 years.

Perhaps the earliest
reference to the Pleiades

is in the Lascaux caves
in France.

But these go back thousands
of years into antiquity,

even before
the written language.

The Pleiades Constellation
shows up in various artifacts,

one of them even being
a Sumerian tablet relief

that shows what appears to be
some type of a god

coming out of
the Pleiades Constellation.

An interesting artifact
coming out of the 1600s

is the Nebra Sky Disk,

depicting the constellation
of Pleiades.

TSOUKALOS: Worldwide,
we find hundreds of references

TSOUKALOS: Worldwide,
we find hundreds of references having to do with the Pleiades,

having to do with the Pleiades,

not just on one continent,
not just in one culture,

but in multiple continents,
in multiple cultures worldwide.

That to me indicates that
something happened here on Earth

having to do with someone
visiting from the Pleiades.

ANDREW COLLINS: The seven stars
making up the star cluster

of the Pleiades are very often
represented as human figures.

In Greek mythology,
they are seven sisters.

And in India,
they are associated

with the Seven Rishi.

These are wise benefactors
to humanity

from some kind of
astronomical place in the sky.

We have to wonder,
why are the Pleiades

being so specifically
picked out of the night sky?

Is it possible that
the Pleiades are the place

where our sky gods
have come from?

NARRATOR: With thousands
of stars in the Pleiades,

could it be a place that
contains an Earth-like planet,

one that could have
been the home planet

for our extraterrestrial
ancestors?

The Kepler Space Telescope
has found evidence

of planets in the Pleiades.

So, Kepler works by finding
dips of light

as a planet passes in front
of the star that it's orbiting

relative to the Earth.

Astronomers were able to see
that there is some dimming

of stars in the Pleiades,

which is likely caused
by planets.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that our ancient ancestors

were visited
by extraterrestrials

who taught them about their
home planet deep in outer space?

If ancient man was seeded
by beings from the Pleiades,

as well as other star systems,

could the desire to reconnect
with our alien ancestors

be embedded in our DNA?

It would be man's
constant fascination

with the worlds
beyond our planet,

and unprecedented
technological advancements

in the 20th century that would
finally launch humans

into space and onto the Moon.

NARRATOR: NASA and Lockheed
Martin project managers

announce preparations
are underway

announce preparations
are underway for the Exploration Mission 1,

for the Exploration Mission 1,

a manned Orion
spacecraft journey to the Moon.

The Chinese, Russian,
and Indian space agencies

follow suit, unveiling their own
manned lunar exploration plans.

These missions would
be the first time humans

traveled beyond low-Earth orbit
since Apollo 17 in 1972.

But what could be the reason

for this renewed interest
in the Moon?

And just why has it taken
humanity so long to go back?

MAN: Liftoff,
we have a liftoff.

Liftoff on Apollo 11.

Tranquility Base.

NARRATOR: Over 600 million
people worldwide

are glued
to their television sets

as they watch the shadowy figure
of Astronaut Neil Armstrong

slowly step off the ladder
of the Apollo 11 lunar module

onto the surface of the Moon.

(cheers and applause)

The moment marks one
of the most important events

in the history
of civilization.

It is the first time
a human being

has set foot on alien terrain.

Apollo 11
is what people think of

when you talk about
Apollo today,

and Neil Armstrong
setting foot on the Moon.

The Moon is roughly 220,000
miles away from the Earth.

Even the best telescopes
can't see what you can see

when you're just standing
on the surface.

BUZZ ALDRIN: Before we went
to the Moon, NASA was cautioned

by doomsday predictors
and different people.

People wonder what it would be
like on a place like that.

So different
from this place here.

JONATHAN YOUNG: The idea
of landing people on the Moon

has been in the imagination
long before the technology

was anywhere near
making it possible.

After all,
to be on the Moon is to step

into a mythological landscape,
the place of stories--

the place of wonder--
to step into the heavens,

and stand on ground
of a kind that is not Earth.

HENRY: It was a huge
moment for the human spirit.

While it was Americans
that put a man on the Moon,

it was considered a victory
for all of humanity.

Suddenly,
science fiction became real,

and it opened up
a new age of exploration.

TSOUKALOS: I think
that every journey

starts with a first step.

The Moon was our first step
into the universe,

into our solar system.

It is awesome to think
that already 50 years ago

we became extraterrestrials
on another planet.

NARRATOR: The Moon has
captivated the imagination

of humanity since the dawn
of civilization.

It is a quarter the size
of the Earth,

and is by far the most dominant
celestial body in the night sky.

RICK STROUD: It takes about
30 days to go round the Earth.

The Moon glows,
and that's not because

of any property within the Moon.

It's reflecting the rays
of the sun,

which causes it to glow.

The reason that the Moon
has phases is that the Earth

blocks the light of the sun
as the Moon

moves round the Earth,

so it incrementally
gets a little bit more

and a little bit more
of the sun's rays.

JOHN BRANDENBURG: The Moon's
importance is very great.

It leads to tides,
which help life transition

from living in the ocean
to living on land.

It also stabilizes the Earth's
tilt relative to its orbit.

Without the Moon,
gravitational influences

can cause the poles of planets
to wander around

kind of drunkenly,
like a drunken sailor.

The Earth would have been
a much more chaotic place

for life, especially
advanced life, to develop

if it wasn't for the Moon.

NARRATOR: While the Moon
is largely responsible

for allowing life
to flourish on Earth,

this celestial body
itself is inhospitable.

It has no breathable oxygen,
and temperatures on the surface

reach extremes from
253 degrees Fahrenheit

when it's facing the sun,
to -243 degrees in the shade.

STROUD: It was a very
serious environment

'cause there's no oxygen.

So, the astronauts,
once they were on the Moon,

they have to be
completely sealed.

Its surface gravity,

which is what really counts
if you're gonna go there,

is about a sixth
of that on Earth,

which is why when you see
those grainy images

of the early astronauts,
they're sort of bouncing around

and the Moon
has no atmosphere whatever.

STROUD: The astronauts,
once they were on the Moon,

suddenly they were able
to look at the world

that they'd grown up on,
the Earth,

that they'd grown up on,
the Earth, from a different place.

from a different place.

They were able
to see all of mankind

in all its tininess
in the universe.

And that, I know
had a very profound effect

on the astronauts.

NARRATOR: Reaching the Moon
was such an unbelievable feat

that even to this day,
many people are convinced

the entire event was actually
staged in a Hollywood studio.

But ancient astronaut theorists

suggest not only did we land
on the Moon,

but what we found there was
more incredible than we know.

SALLA: During the 1969
Apollo Moon mission,

after the landing, there was
a very strange two-minute gap

after the landing, there was
a very strange two-minute gap in radio transmissions.

in radio transmissions.

And what happened
during those two minutes

has been subject to a lot
of controversy.

MAN: Neil, this is Houston.
Radio check, over.

Columbia, this is Houston, over.

Small white object.

NARRATOR: According to scientist
and NASA researcher Otto Binder,

various HAM radio operators
were able to intercept

secret communications
with Mission Control

secret communications
with Mission Control that were not made public.

that were not made public.

The astronauts apparently
talked about seeing

extraterrestrial objects
on the Moon,

including flying saucers parked
along the edge of a crater

within their view.

Now, the truth of it is,
is that each of the astronauts

had a separate
medical channel.

That channel was not public,

and it could have been
very easily used

to communicate information
that you didn't want to be heard

over the general
public transmissions.

What's really interesting
about that story, though,

is the fact that within
30 minutes

of the landing on the Moon,
that story was circulating

around NASA that,
"Hey, guess what?

They saw something
on the rim of a crater."

They were all upset.
They didn't know what to do.

They didn't know
if they should go out.

It is interesting
when you watch the feed

of when they came back
from the Moon.

They're not sitting there
jumping up and down for joy

and saying, "I had the most
incredible experience

in my life,
I was on the Moon!"

They're not saying that.
They look very sullen,

very depressed,
they're looking down.

They almost look
like they want to vomit,

that's how disturbed they look.

Could they have seen
something there

that they didn't want
to tell the public

that they didn't want
to tell the public because of the implications?

because of the implications?

I believe that...

...what this country set out
to do was something

...what this country set out to do was something
that was going to be done sooner or later.

that was going to be done
sooner or later.

We find for the first time
that man has the flexibility

or the option of either
walking this planet

or the option of either
walking this planet or some other planet.

or some other planet.

It's a beginning of a new age.

NARRATOR: After Apollo 11,
NASA would send

six more manned missions
to the Moon,

six more manned missions to the Moon,
culminating with Apollo 17 in 1972.

culminating
with Apollo 17 in 1972.

ALAN BUTLER: One of the most
interesting questions

with regard to our interaction
with the Moon

is why we have never
gone back there again

since the Apollo missions.

And what else is very telling
is that although the USSR

at the time
was getting to be quite able

to send its own astronauts
to the Moon,

it never seems to have done so.

Could it be
that there were agencies

associated with the Moon?

Aliens or other beings
who had warned humanity

to stay away for some reason?

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the American astronauts

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the American astronauts were not alone on the Moon?

were not alone on the Moon?

Is that why after Apollo 17,
we never went back?

Some ancient astronaut theorists

propose an even more
incredible possibility

that the Moon came to orbit
Earth not by chance,

but by design.

NARRATOR: Humans have been
mesmerized by the Moon

since the dawn of man.

And although many theories
have been proposed,

scientists cannot say
with absolute certainty

how this celestial object
came into being.

When I was a student,
nobody really knew

where the Moon came from, and
because it's so relatively big,

this was a real problem.

And I think that there
is a tendency to think

that moons get somehow captured
by the parent planets.

If you've got one body here
and another body come--

coming along, it can't just get
trapped into orbit like that.

The difficulty there
is just basic physics.

So, this remained a puzzle
until about 20 years ago

when another theory came along,
and that is that the proto-Earth

was very early on in the history
of the solar system

hit by a Mars-sized body--

hit obliquely
that this Mars-sized body

plowed into the center
of the Earth

and became the Earth's core
and a lot of the outer material

got stripped off
by this gargantuan collision,

and coalesced to form the Moon.

Now, they had to come up
with a very bizarre theory

for how the Moon came
into being,

because all the conventional
theories don't make any sense.

The best theory of
the Moon's formation

is phantasmagorically
catastrophic--

collision of two things,
you know,

at just the right angle
to form this belt of debris

at just the right angle
to form this belt of debris that then formed the Moon.

that then formed the Moon.

But the Moon,
its exact size is such

But the Moon, its exact size is such
that it gives us total eclipses.

that it gives us
total eclipses.

Its disc exactly covers the sun.

And the chances
of that occurring

are so-- literally,
astronomically small.

It's-- it's very disturbing.

NARRATOR: The sun's diameter is
400 times greater than the Moon,

and coincidentally,
the sun also happens to be

nearly precisely 400 times
further away.

This is the reason
that the sun and the Moon

appear the same size
in the Earth's sky,

and why we on Earth can
experience eclipses of the sun.

CHILDRESS: It's just perfectly
in that orbit

to eclipse our sun.

The odds of the Moon
being in that orbit accidentally

The odds of the Moon
being in that orbit accidentally are a zillion to one.

are a zillion to one.

So, that right there
is evidence that our Moon

is in a perfect orbit
around our planet

is in a perfect orbit
around our planet that's not accidental.

that's not accidental.

BARA: In order to have
a solar eclipse,

the Moon has to be
exactly the size that it is,

the Moon has to be
exactly the size that it is, which is 2,160 miles.

which is 2,160 miles.

which is 2,160 miles.
Not 2,161, not 2,159,

Not 2,161, not 2,159,

but 2,160 miles
at its equator.

And there are people out there
that actually think

that's a coincidence.

The fact is, is that
that is by design.

NARRATOR: Throughout
our observable galaxy,

this relationship and others
have not been duplicated.

Other moons are sizably smaller
by comparison

to their mother planet.

Earth's satellite not only
orbits closer than it should

Earth's satellite not only orbits closer than it should
for its size, it is also the only moon

for its size, it is also
the only moon

in the solar system that has
a near-perfect circular orbit.

And no other lunar bodies
are known

to have such a stabilizing role
as the Moon has with the Earth.

HENRY: Recent computer
simulations have shown

that without
the Moon's presence,

that without
the Moon's presence, the Earth's axis tilt

the Earth's axis tilt

would be completely different
than it is today.

We might not even have seasons
as we know them presently.

Without the seasons,
it could be very difficult

for life on Earth.

So, the Moon
is actually performing

an incredible function.

an incredible function.
It's life-sustaining.

It's life-sustaining.

Without it,
we might not be here.

BUTLER: There are so many
peculiarities

about the way the Moon
has affected the Earth,

that one might be forgiven
for believing

that there is
intelligence behind it,

that there is
intelligence behind it, that something made it that way.

that something made it that way.

The Moon is so strange,

so odd in terms of what we find
elsewhere in the solar system,

and particularly in terms
of what it does for the Earth,

having made the Earth
into a haven for life,

that one feels obliged
to ask the question,

"Could such things
have come about by chance?"

Was it placed there
deliberately?

Was it engineered,
maybe by aliens?

And therefore, is our whole
existence a planned event?

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists

suggest that the perfect size
and placement of the Moon

may not be the product
of mere chance,

but was engineered
by extraterrestrial beings

in Earth's pre-history.

As evidence, they point
to ancient accounts

that speak of a time
before the celestial object

even existed.

Beginning in
the 5th century B.C.,

Roman and Greek authors
wrote of a time

"before there was
a Moon in the heavens."

Allusions to this can also
be found in the Hebrew Bible.

And there are Zulu legends
that say that the Moon

was brought to Earth
hundreds of generations ago.

Wowane and Mpanku
were the names

of two Zulu deities
from prehistory.

The Zulus have a legend

that it was they who brought
the Moon into existence.

They supposedly did so
by stealing an egg

from a giant sky dragon,
hollowing out the center,

the yolk of the egg, and then
rolling the resultant planet

across the sky
to become the Moon.

And the reason that
the Zulus say the Moon

was put there was to keep
an eye on human beings.

WHITEHEAD: The Zulu legend
is really interesting.

We first heard about it from
a Zulu shaman named Credo Mutwa,

and he talked about
the fact that the Moon

and he talked about
the fact that the Moon was towed into our orbit.

was towed into our orbit.

And when it did so,
it caused all kinds of floods

and cataclysms, and it changed
the axis of the planet.

And you can't help but wonder,

could the Moon
be an artificial satellite?

Could the Moon have come
from somewhere else

and is now used
as an observational base

for extraterrestrial beings?

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Zulu legend is true,

as ancient astronaut theorists
suggest?

Was our Moon towed
into place in the remote past?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining
the scientific evidence

suggesting that the Moon is,
in fact, hollow.

NARRATOR: The surface
of the Moon is scarred

with tens of thousands of
impact craters of various sizes.

Scientists suggest
this is due to the fact

that there has never been
an atmosphere on the Moon

to help protect it from
bombardment by space debris.

There are no natural
erosive forces,

like wind or flowing water,
to affect its surface.

And there is little
geologic activity

to conceal damage done
throughout the Moon's history.

DAVIES: When you study
the distribution of craters,

you find that the surface
is totally saturated--

that is, that there are craters
within craters within craters,

right down to
the smallest scale of size.

BARA: One of the things
that's really interesting

BARA: One of the things
that's really interesting about lunar craters is that

about lunar craters is that

even though some
of them are very large

and some of them are very small,

they all seem to have
the same depth

and that really shouldn't happen
on a planetary body.

There should be
variation in depth.

So, why are the Moon's craters
so uniform?

It's really, really unusual
and it's really not explainable

in terms of conventional
or established geophysics.

Some of the craters on the Moon

are nowhere near similar
to what they should look like.

In fact, they are
incredibly wide craters,

and wherever
the impact point is,

they're convex,

which means there's still
the bulge of the Moon,

so this doesn't make any sense.

It's likely
that there is something

under the lunar surface
which is very resilient,

and which is preventing craters
going any deeper than they do.

This could only really be either
much harder rock--

which it can't be because of
the mass of the Moon--

or alternatively
a metal sphere of some kind

which is preventing more damage.

NARRATOR: Does the uniform depth
of the craters on the Moon

suggest some sort
of metallic barrier

underneath Moon rock and dust?

But if so, why wouldn't
mainstream scientists

acknowledge this?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that by doing so,

they might also have
to acknowledge

that the Moon
may be hollow.

MAN: Yankee Clipper, Houston.

NARRATOR: During their ascent
back to the command module,

Commander Charles Conrad, Jr.
and lunar module pilot Alan Bean

release the Apollo 12
launch vehicle

and crash it back to the Moon.

MAN: Apollo 12, Houston.
The LM is on its way down.

MAN 2: Roger.

NARRATOR: Upon impact, something
very unexpected happened.

The Moon was said to have
seismically reverberated

like a bell
for more than an hour.

With Apollo 12,
people refer to a crash.

It wasn't really a crash,
it was a aimed de-orbit

of the rocket used to lift off
the lunar module.

And the crew
separated the launch vehicle

and crashed it back
into the ground

right close to where
they'd had a seismograph

that they had installed
down there.

Well, it vibrated, so it
was kind of an early clue

as to how solid was the surface
of the Moon.

What was amazing about this
is that suddenly the Moon

began to ring like a bell,
and did so for nearly an hour.

Dr. Werner von Braun,
who was then the head of NASA,

Dr. Werner von Braun,
who was then the head of NASA, decided that for Apollo 13,

decided that for Apollo 13,

they were going
to intentionally crash

a heavier portion of the rocket
into the lunar surface.

And when they did this, the Moon
rang like a gong this time

for over three hours
into a depth of over 20 miles.

BUTLER: This was not expected,

and it still puzzles
a lot of scientists today.

The inference is that
the Moon must be hollow

because the Moon is made
predominantly on the surface

of a kind of rock
called basalt.

Although
it's a very lightweight rock,

it also absorbs impact
extremely well.

And so, if the whole of the Moon
was made of that kind of rock,

you wouldn't expect it
to reverberate

when a large impact
took place.

The reason that this
is played down

is because the idea
of the Moon being hollow

just contradicts what we know
about physics.

NARRATOR: In his 1966 book,

Intelligent Life
in the Universe,

renowned scientist
and astronomer Carl Sagan

defined modern scholarship
regarding the composition

of celestial bodies
throughout the cosmos.

Carl Sagan suggested
that a natural satellite

cannot be a hollow object.

This is very odd,
because why would the Moon

be vibrating
unless it's a hollow object?

That would suggest
it's artificial.

NICK REDFERN:
Significant portions of the Moon

may have been hollowed out.

If that is the case,

the chances are that was not
achieved naturally.

That would have to have been
achieved artificially.

This brings up
the important question,

who would have had the ability,
the skills,

and the technology to do that?

and the technology to do that?
Certainly not us.

Certainly not us.

That would only have
to be the work

of extraterrestrials
and no one else.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that
the Moon is not only hollow,

but also
an artificial structure?

And if so, could it be
an extraterrestrial creation?

Moscow, Russia.
July 1970.

After years
of studying findings

from various Moon missions,
two government scientists,

Mikhail Vasin
and Alexander Shcherbakov,

Mikhail Vasin and Alexander Shcherbakov,
publish an article in Sputnik Magazine

publish an article
in Sputnik Magazine

revealing their shocking
conclusion

about the nature of the Moon.

Their theory is that the Moon
is likely a creation

of alien intelligence
that was brought to Earth

of alien intelligence
that was brought to Earth in the remote past.

in the remote past.

BUTLER: Two Russian physicists,
Vasin and Scherbakov,

came up with the idea
that the Moon

must be an artificial object.

They based their ideas on,
first of all,

the fact that it appeared
that the Moon was hollow.

Since no hollow planet
could exist

according to
the known laws of physics,

that would mean that the Moon
had to be an artificial--

an engineered object.

DAVID WILCOCK: This article
was quite groundbreaking.

In fact, what they did

is to fundamentally
redefine scholarship

is to fundamentally redefine scholarship
around what we think the Moon is.

around what we think
the Moon is.

NARRATOR: Based on the maximum
depth of the Moon craters,

Vasin and Scherbakov
proposed that the surface

was only
two-and-a-half miles thick.

NASA scientists had determined
that this Moon dust

primarily consisted of chromium,
titanium, and zirconium.

In their publication,
Vasin and Scherbakov

noted if a material
had to be devised

to protect a giant
artificial satellite

from the unfavorable effects
of temperature,

cosmic radiation,
and meteorite bombardment,

the experts would probably have
hit on precisely these elements.

TSOUKALOS:
Now, they themselves proposed

that this suggestion
is outlandish.

However, only through
their calculations

However, only through
their calculations and all the mathematics

and all the mathematics

they determined
that their theory is correct.

they determined
that their theory is correct. We're talking people in academia

We're talking people in academia

who may perhaps lose their
position at the universities.

I don't think anybody
would publish a paper like this

unless they were 100% convinced
that their findings are true.

The entire object
may be of artificial origin.

And if that is the case,
my question is,

who built the Moon,
who placed it here,

and how long ago?

NOORY: Would I discount
the fact that the Moon

is a foreign object,
a spaceship, a Death Star?

I don't think
you can rule that out.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Moon

is actually a spacecraft?

And might it have
allowed extraterrestrials

to discretely monitor
our planet?

If so, did these visitors
come from distant stars,

or from planets
within our own solar system?

Clues may be found as we travel
deeper into outer space,

to a planet some believe
was once our alien home--

the Red Planet, Mars.

NARRATOR: Houston, Texas.
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,

There is going to the Moon,
there is going to Mars, and then there is free space.

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

I think you can look
at all three of those as options in the near term.

as options in the near term.

I firmly believe that
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,

Early on in the evolution of the solar system,
we believe Venus, Earth, and Mars

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 1,000.

The trip to Mars
will take you on a trip

The trip to Mars
will take you on a trip that's 250 million miles away.

that's 250 million miles away.

This is not
a simple rocket trip.

STEPHEN PETRANEK:
Wernher von Braun built the Saturn V rocket

STEPHEN PETRANEK:
Wernher von Braun built
the Saturn V rocket
to get astronauts
to the Moon.

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.

given current technology.
And that's not an easy trip.

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

experts say Mars
has many advantages for human colonization.

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.

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.

NARRATOR: Over the centuries,
humans have conceived

numerous and often
humorous notions

of what Mars and its possible
Martian inhabitants

of what Mars and its possible
Martian inhabitants might look like up close.

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

But what if some
of the creative depictions of our interplanetary neighbor

of our interplanetary neighbor

of our interplanetary neighbor
don't come from human imagination,

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

For instance, if our ancestors
perceived that lightning was dangerous,

perceived that lightning
was dangerous,

we might inherit, then,
a fear of lightning.

And so, it's possible
in this 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

NARRATOR: Could there be
a profound connection that links humans to Mars

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

A private Dutch organization
known as Mars One announces a global mission

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,
rain, the beach--

and I think to live
the first half of my life

as an Earthling,
and the second half

as an Earthling, and the second half
as a Martian-- what an amazing way

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 timeline.

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.

BRANDENBURG: 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

And you will not be able
to leave and come back for at least 400 days.

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.

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: As the possibility
of colonizing Mars

becomes a reality,
just what effect

will living in outer space
have on human evolution?

Perhaps clues can be found
by exploring the atmospheres

of recently discovered
exoplanets

and the type of life-forms
we might find there.

NARRATOR: La Silla Observatory,
Chile, 2009.

Astronomers identify
a potentially habitable planet

Astronomers identify a potentially habitable planet
orbiting the star Gliese 667C.

orbiting the star
Gliese 667C.

orbiting the star
Gliese 667C. It's a large Earth-like planet

It's a large Earth-like planet

located firmly
in the Goldilocks Zone.

While evidence of life
has yet to be discovered,

While evidence of life
has yet to be discovered, scientists are able to speculate

scientists are able to speculate

as to how life on this planet
would evolve.

When we imagine
life on other planets,

we have to imagine that
the environment on those planets

will determine what
the creature may look like.

DENNIN: In considering
planets larger than Earth,

the increased gravity
will likely result

in shorter, complex life-forms.

This results
in a more stable life-form

and protects against falls.

So, life-forms on larger planets

would likely be smaller
than those on smaller planets.

NARRATOR: Like Earth,
a major evolutionary force

on the planet is the strength
of its sun.

Gliese 667C is a red dwarf star,
an M star,

that's about 1.4%
as bright as our sun.

Because M-dwarf stars
are much smaller than our sun,

they're much cooler, and they
give off a lot less light.

Because the star gives out such
low light compared to our sun,

any life on those planets
would look much different.

BIRNES: Let's assume
for the sake of argument

that there is life
on Gliese 667C.

Such life would be living
in kind of eternal darkness.

In order for life-forms
on a planet like that to see,

In order for life-forms on a planet like that to see,
they'd be like owls on planet Earth.

they'd be like owls
on planet Earth.

They would have
very, very large eyes,

to capture as much light
as possible.

CHILDRESS: They are going
to develop eyes

that are perhaps more like
a insect's eyes,

where you're seeing
different light spectrums

where you're seeing
different light spectrums and heat signatures--

and heat signatures--

something completely
different than the way we see.

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,
these descriptions share a curious similarity

these descriptions share
a curious similarity

to accounts reported
by alleged alien abductees.

BIRNES: Alien abductees give
very consistent accounts

of some of the types
of aliens they see.

The most consistent account
is four feet,

short, gray,
big-headed, big-eyed aliens.

And this would fit what
we might expect with gravity

so intense that you
couldn't grow to six feet.

NARRATOR: Short, gray aliens
with large, black eyes?

Is it possible that
the habitable planet

orbiting Gliese 667C
is the home world of the beings

known in the UFO community
as the Grays?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the planet orbiting
Gliese 667C is just one

of a number of recently
discovered worlds

that could represent places
of origin for extraterrestrials

encountered both in modern times
and in the distant past.

Mountain View, CA.

April 2013.

NASA scientists at
the Ames Research Center

NASA scientists at the Ames Research Center
announce that the Kepler Space Telescope

announce that the Kepler
Space Telescope

has discovered
two new exoplanets

that seem
highly promising for life.

Named Kepler-62e and 62f,

they are so-called
water worlds--

planets covered by an
all-encompassing global ocean.

DENNIN: The planets 62e and f
are very exciting

because they are
ocean-covered planets

and in the habitable zone.

and in the habitable zone.
So, if you're an ocean-covered planet,

So, if you're an
ocean-covered planet,

it increases the chance
that there's actually life

on that planet.

If there is a water world,
with an atmosphere, with water,

the creatures that may inhabit
there are waterborne creatures.

They wouldn't necessarily look
like human beings

standing up
on two legs and two arms,

they might look more
like mermaids.

NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut
theorists point out

that many early civilizations
reported sky visitors

with amphibious,
fish-like characteristics.

Considered to be gods,
they were seen in China,

sub-Saharan Africa,
Central America,

and Egypt, just to name a few.

These amphibian beings were said
to interact with humans by day

and retreat to rivers
or lakes at night.

Could such entities have come
from so-called water worlds

like Kepler 62-e and f?

Creatures like that,
if they existed,

would evolve on water worlds--
planets with a global ocean.

And it just so happens
that in the ongoing search

for exoplanets, many such
worlds are being discovered.

CHILDRESS: These half-human,
half-fish type gods,

that are like us
but are still aquatic,

are coming
from these water planets.

Extraterrestrials may be very
attracted to planet Earth

because the oceans
are huge and vast.

because the oceans
are huge and vast. So, aquatic extraterrestrials

So, aquatic extraterrestrials

could find a very happy home
here on planet Earth.

KAKU: So, when we encounter
alien life-forms out in space,

are they gonna look like us?
No.

They could look
completely different from us

and have a different pathway
to intelligence.

NARRATOR: In their search
for habitable exoplanets,

could mainstream scientists
be discovering the home worlds

of extraterrestrial visitors
to Earth?

For ancient astronaut theorists,

the answer
is a resounding "yes,"

the answer is a resounding "yes,"
and they suggest that the search for life

and they suggest
that the search for life

is about to be revolutionized
once again,

is about to be revolutionized
once again, as NASA continues to launch

as NASA continues to launch

extraordinary new technology
into space.

NARRATOR: Astronomers Michel
Mayor and Didier Queloz

are awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physics

for discovering
the first exoplanet in 1992.

In the years since,
more than 4,000

have been examined
and categorized,

and more
are being found every day.

KAKU: Let's do
a science experiment tonight.

Go outside, look up and see all
the thousands of stars you see.

Every single one, on average,
has a planet going around them,

and about one in 20
has an Earth-like planet.

And so, when you look
at the stars tonight,

realize that somebody
could be looking back at you

from outer space.

NARRATOR: In 2021, NASA launched
the James Webb Space Telescope,

NARRATOR: In 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope,
a satellite that can do something

a satellite that can
do something

once thought impossible--
take detailed, color images

of an exoplanet.

The James Webb Space Telescope
is a different type of telescope

than we've had in space before.

It will give us the ability
to look at the reflected light

from exoplanets and the infrared
part of the spectrum

and to search for the potential
for biology being present.

NARRATOR: But when we look
upon the images of other worlds

and possibly even the beings
that inhabit them,

what will we find?

CHILDRESS: I think that
what's really lying in store

for humanity now
is that we will prove

that there are these exoplanets
out there, that they have life,

and quite possibly
intelligent life

capable of coming
to our solar system.

This will cause a sea change
all over the world,

within scientific communities,

and within
the religious communities too.

NARRATOR: If astronomers
discover exoplanets

NARRATOR: If astronomers discover exoplanets
with intelligent alien life-forms,

with intelligent
alien life-forms,

with intelligent alien life-forms,
will they appear eerily familiar?

will they appear
eerily familiar?

Could they find
amphibious humanoid beings,

like the gods depicted
in ancient times?

Small, gray aliens, like those
reported by alleged abductees?

And is it possible
that some visitors,

perhaps coming from worlds
very similar to Earth,

perhaps coming from worlds
very similar to Earth, might look remarkably like us?

might look remarkably like us?

Within established
ancient astronaut theory,

it's generally thought that
these extraterrestrial beings

coming from outside
of our solar system

were interacting
with our society,

and they were manipulating
our DNA,

and in a sense, creating people
on this planet-- us--

who looked like them
and are similar to them.

HENRY: As we discover
more and more exoplanets,

the implications for humanity
are enormous.

I think it's very possible
that we are on the verge

of discovering our home planet,
the place of our origins.

TSOUKALOS: The big revelation
will not be,

"do they look like us,"
but we look like them,

'cause we are their offspring.

NARRATOR: Is humanity on the
verge of finally discovering

an alien planet populated
by intelligent life-forms?

And if so, might we find that
they are not only similar to us,

but are, in fact,
the creator gods

our ancestors wrote about
thousands of years ago?

Perhaps as we search
deeper in outer space,

somewhere on a distant planet,
an alien race

has its own telescopes
focused on us

watching our progress

and waiting for the day
when we are ready

to learn the truth about
our extraterrestrial origins.

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