All language subtitles for NASAs.Unexplained.Files.S06E07.Planet.of.the.Metal.Aliens.WEB.x264-CAFFEiNE[eztv]

Narrator: Liquid metal monsters
from a planet called janssen...

This would be a kind of life
entirely foreign to us

and to our experiences.

Narrator: ...A computer code
in nature

that may cause
supernatural events...

The universe may be just
smacking us in the face

and saying, yes, of course
we're in a simulation.

All this evidence points to it.

Narrator: ...And the soviet
sun gun --

could we be roasted
by rogue russians?

If they're able to turn
the sun into a weapon,

then we'll probably
all be toast.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

narrator: These are
nasa's unexplained files.

At present, man is the master.

Metal is his slave.

But new discoveries on earth

and on a dangerously
close planet nearby suggest

that we could face a threat
from monsters made of metal,

naturally
evolving machine-like entities,

creatures who just don't tear up
our assumptions

about the very nature
of life itself,

but who could challenge
and defeat us

for control of our planet.

We often assume that aliens
would be interested in us,

but these might
just be interested

in our planet's hot core.

Narrator:
January 2018, great britain.

A scientist builds a machine
with almost godlike powers.

It is designed to create life,
but not as we know it.

This machine we built to explore
the origin of life

and to make
artificial life-forms.

Narrator:
By making inorganic cells,

the machine brings together
different chemical compounds.

We put them onto the surface
of the planet, if you like,

and let them interact
with one another.

Then we're looking for droplets
that literally burst into life.

Within a few seconds,

they'll start doing
really strange things

as they explore
more of their environment.

So, you got this one start --

they start bursting
around spontaneously.

Narrator:
The cells in the dishes

act like they're living,

but it's not life as we know it.

Cronin:
These are completely dead.

We're just looking at
how inorganic cells

can take on lifelike properties

and fool us into thinking
it's alive.

And then, at some point,
we're gonna be able

to not tell the difference,
and then maybe it is alive.

Narrator: Cronin's life-making
machine is programmed

to automatically alter
and adapt its chemical recipes,

carrying out a kind
of unnatural selection --

evolution of a new form of life
in a lab at high speed.

Well, I basically think
we now know

how to make life in the lab.

Within the next decade,

we will have made some
very odd-looking life-forms.

Narrator: The life-forms cronin
is working on

are like nothing found on earth.

Cronin: In my lab,
we've been trying to make

primitive life-forms
based on an iron oxide.

Could life exist based
on metal instead of carbon?

Cronin: If you managed to make
life in the lab,

that would allow us to change
our entire set of parameters

on how we would look
for life in the universe.

Narrator: Bizarre as it seems,
cronin's and other experiments

are not only
persuading scientists

that inorganic life
is possible,

they are already speculating
what that life might look like

and where in the universe we
might find it already existing.

Their research has led them
to look again at a nearby star.

55 cancri is a sun-like star.

It's just a little bit smaller

and a little bit less massive
than our sun.

It is a star that is only
40 light-years away,

which is basically
the equivalent of being

in our astronomical backyard.

Narrator: Around
this nearby sun,

they discover an exoplanet

of a type astronomers
call a super-earth.

Wall: There's this planet
called janssen

and it's about twice
the diameter of earth

and about eight times
as massive.

It's like earth,
but on steroids.

Narrator: Janssen
is half the size

of the gas giant neptune,

but it is made
out of solid rock,

and like our own planet,

this super-earth
may well harbor life.

A super-earth's a good candidate
to finding life

because they're gonna have a lot
of interesting elements

on them --

a lot of heat and gravity
to drag these materials together

so the processes that give rise
to biology can start.

Narrator: For life-forms made
from rock or metal to evolve,

geological, chemical,
and climatic conditions

would have to be just right.

Astronomers have used
hubble space telescope

to look at janssen
and look at its atmosphere.

Wall: It seems like janssen
does have an atmosphere,

and it might actually
be kind of thick,

and it might be kind of
earthlike

with a lot of nitrogen

and some oxygen
and maybe even some water.

Narrator: Like earth but, in one
important way, very different.

Russ: If you were standing on
the surface of planet janssen,

the sun in the sky
would appear 60 times bigger,

and it would be 3,600 times
brighter than our sun.

Janssen is very, very hot.

It's something like
4,000 degrees fahrenheit.

That is just far beyond anything
we can even imagine.

Narrator: For humans,
this super-earth

is a vision of fiery damnation.

Tomlinson:
You would see liquid metal

precipitating like rain
out of the atmosphere.

You would be buffeted by
incredibly high-speed winds

coming from every direction.

It would be like visiting
dante's version of hell.

The conditions on janssen
mean instant death

for anything that we would
understand currently as life.

Granade: Life on earth is
centered on d.N.A.,

on proteins being arranged
on different orders,

and it's all kind of delicate.

If you put too much heat
into it,

those chains of proteins
fall apart and life

becomes next to impossible.

Narrator: The intense heat
is enough

to turn solids into fluids.

Hell for organic life,

but an atmosphere
and climate necessary

for the evolution
of inorganic beings.

This planet has oceans,
but they're oceans of lava.

On a planet like janssen,

you'll have molten lakes
of metal, of rock.

Would they act sort of analogous
to an ocean on earth

that creatures could live in?

If you move away from carbon
and carbon-based molecules,

you can ask,

"could you create life
out of inorganic chemistry?"

narrator: We know of
the potential for inorganic life

from laboratory tests,

but such a different form
of life

would break all the rules
of biology as we know them.

How would such creatures
look or think

or behave,
even on a chemical level?

That's one of the amazing things
about the prospects

for finding
life on foreign worlds is that

the chemistry that's available,
we can't even imagine.

Liquid metal creatures
sounds extreme,

but we've actually
started building

the first initial blocks
of them here on earth.

Imagine what a lab
the size of a planet

given billions of years
could accomplish.

Narrator: Sci-fi writers
have already imagined

such fluid metal monsters
in the "terminator" movies.

Because of the nature
of the place that they live,

it would be almost impossible
for any component

to them to be solid.

It would be very difficult
to imagine them

having anything
resembling a skeleton.

So, if anything, they'd be more
like amorphous blobs,

perhaps like the t-1000.

Narrator: Liquid metal organisms

living in the fiery lakes
of janssen,

growing red hot
and able to shape shift

into any form they want.

Granade: Do you take
a more spherical shape

to conserve energy,

to have as little service area

compared to your internals
as possible?

Do you take a more
elongated shape

for predatory activities?

Narrator: Such liquid metal
beings would have evolved

as we have evolved --

to adapt and to survive
the conditions around them.

The idea that they move around

by manipulating magnetic fields
within their own body

would potentially mean
they could do

so with objects
around them, as well.

Narrator: Is it impossible that,
after billions of years

on this fiery super-earth,

evolution will have
produced creatures

as advanced or more advanced
than on our own cold, wet earth?

Granade: I think, if they're
good at working metal,

they would be able
to potentially make metal

structures in ways
that we're not as used to

and not as skilled at.

They'd be used to working with
things in their molten state

and would have had to of
developed the techniques

for doing so.

It would be taking advantage of
the tremendous amount of energy

pouring in from their star.

Narrator: Having mastered the
elements on their home world,

would they then look, as we do,
to venture into space?

♪

coming up, the perfect home
for janssen's metal monsters --

the center of the earth.

There is a string
of u.F.O. Reports

in different volcanoes
throughout the world.

Narrator: And a hidden code in
the fabric of nature itself

that might explain
paranormal events.

Things like déjà vu,
where things happen repeatedly.

These might be cracks
appearing in the simulation.

♪

♪

narrator: Scientists
investigating

the hellish exoplanet
janssen ask

whether technologically advanced
liquid metal creatures

have evolved there,
and if so,

whether they might venture
through space in our direction.

The beings on janssen,

if these metallic liquid
t-1000s do exist down there,

it would look at earth
and see an absolute hellscape.

They would all freeze to death.

Narrator: But if the janssenites
can travel

through the bone-chilling
vacuum of space to get here,

then they will have
the technology

to overcome anything the earth
can throw at them.

Their spaceships will
obviously emulate

the environment on their planet.

Granade: They would have to keep
those temperatures

and the pressures sufficient
to keep themselves together

and to keep themselves
from solidifying.

Narrator: What's more, there are
places on the earth where

the liquid metal janssenites
might feel almost at home.

Granade: If they were looking
at visiting earth,

volcanoes might be
a reasonable place to go.

Narrator: It is no doubt
a coincidence that many reports

of unexplained aerial phenomenon
happen close to volcanoes,

whose temperatures can reach
to 2,200 degrees fahrenheit.

There's a string of reporting
of u.F.O. Reports

in different volcanoes
throughout the world.

Are they visitors from janssen
or a similar type planet?

They'd have to go fairly deep
into our mantle

before they got to a spot
where they would consider it

to be real beach-like for them.

Narrator: Earth's molten
outer core,

1,800 miles inside the planet,

has temperatures
of 4,000 degrees fahrenheit,

the same as janssen's
scorching hot surface.

The liquid metal aliens could be
swimming in the molten ocean

beneath our feet
right now unbeknownst to us.

I would imagine,
if these aliens turned up,

it would be entirely bizarre.

Would we tell the difference
between an inorganic life-form

visiting in a meteorite going
through the earth's atmosphere?

A really hot -- I don't know.

Narrator: Just as we might now
recognize them,

they might not even see us
as life-forms.

Just strange clumps
of organic matter

scattered over the thin crust
of our planet.

I find it very difficult
to believe

that we could interact with them
in any meaningful way.

If they decided to wipe
their new world clean,

we may not have any way
of asking them to stop.

♪

throughout recorded history,
humans have reported ghosts,

time slips, and premonitions.

Even today, there are thousands
of reports of people

experiencing the inexplicable.

Kowal: A couple returns home
from their night out.

Moments later, the man notices
his partner sitting down.

Narrator: The woman also sees
her mysterious clone.

Was that a trick that
their mind played on them,

or was she somehow
in two places at once?

This has to be one of
the creepiest experiences

of your life.

Narrator: A woman walking down
the street

passes a suspicious-looking man.

She turns a corner and is
shocked to discover

the same man walking down
the street towards her again.

It's like he was
teleported there.

Narrator: And two men lose
control of their tongues.

A guy remembers having
a conversation with a friend

in fluent french.

[ conversing in french ]

then he realizes,
"wait a minute..."

[ man's voice ]
neither of us speak french.

[ normal voice ] it's very
difficult to explain

how people can suddenly
speak a foreign language.

Narrator: Could there be
a scientific explanation

for such bizarre occurrences?

Professor jim gates
is a theoretical physicist.

I strongly believe that there is
a very strange mystery

at the core of our universe.

Narrator: To understand it,
physicists translate

the physical universe
into mathematics,

and within these numbers, gates
and his colleagues believe

they have discovered
a hidden code.

We found these weird pieces
of mathematics

that no one had ever told us was
part of this set of equations.

This weirdness
really bothered me.

We found out these objects had
computer code buried in them.

Narrator: Weirdly, this code
existing in nature

is said to match
almost perfectly

the error-correcting codes
of ones

and zeroes used
to prevent computers

and the internet from crashing.

Error-correcting codes
are very useful

in terms of our technology,

but we weren't
studying technology.

We were simply studying matter
and energy.

Why would there be
error-correcting codes?

Narrator:
Gates believes that sewn into
the fabric of physical reality

are codes which act
to prevent that reality

from somehow unraveling
or collapsing.

That's the only scientific
explanation I can come up with.

Why would we exist
in a universe

where the laws of physics have
error-correcting codes in them?

Narrator: But some scientists
believe gates' discovery

points to something
that seems incredible.

The work suggests that
our universe is a vast

cosmic computer program,

and like any computer program,
it suffers errors or glitches.

Things like déjà vu
where things happen repeatedly.

It's entirely possible that
our whole reality

may be a construct,
some sort of illusion.

Many people, including many
prominent people like elon musk,

have bought into this idea

that the universe
must be a simulation.

Narrator: And this is where
it gets even weirder.

Tech billionaires in silicon
valley are investing money

into looking into ways
to break out of the simulation.

Narrator: In effect, they're
looking for another dimension --

the origin of our
created universe.

We really have no idea
what the situation

is like outside
of the simulation.

Narrator: This supports the
theory of multiple universes,

of which ours is just one.

Once you've created
that infrastructure,

why wouldn't you create
multiple worlds?

Narrator: But if we are created,
the question is,

who is this almighty god?

Who is the -- developed this
simulation and for what purpose?

What are they doing?

Narrator: Coming up...

Be careful not to anger
the programmer god.

Are we simply playthings that
some super being dallies with

and then gets bored with us

and then puts us away
or hits the erase button.

Narrator: And sci-fi horror
weapons from space,

as the reds
and the nazis team up.

Have the russians perfected
hitler's death ray in space?

♪

♪

narrator:
Some scientists believe

they have evidence
that our universe,

our world, is
a cosmic computer simulation.

Science and religion,
long thought to be adversaries,

appear to meet.

Is god the big computer
programmer?

Narrator: "in the beginning,"
says the bible, "was the word."

the greek for "word" is logos,

from which we get
our word "logic."

since earliest times,
humans have sensed

that there is a logic
written into the universe

by someone or something.

Paris: If I'm building
a computer simulation, right,

I want that computer simulation
to be an image of myself, right?

Narrator: God, it is said,
created man in his image.

Some nasa scientists
are convinced

the logic of our universe

is somehow the work of a being
or beings like ourselves

from the future
or even another dimension.

Do I believe?
It's highly probably.

I do.

I do believe it's probable.
I'd bet on it.

Narrator: But why would these
godlike humans

build a simulation
of the universe?

You generally don't run
simulations about the past

to inform yourself
about the past.

Maybe in the future there's
some type of human catastrophe,

earth catastrophe.

Narrator:
The theories just get wilder --

that we are effectively lab rats

in some vast
time-travel experiment.

Haas: If you could send
information back in time

to affect the present,

you would definitely want
to run simulations

to model that before
you impacted your own timeline.

If you have complete control
over the program,

you can just go in and edit it
or change things.

Narrator:
If we exist for a purpose,

what happens
when that purpose is fulfilled?

How about when
the simulation ends?

What happens to all of us?

If the simulation is shut off,

then our world pops
out of existence.

♪

narrator: August 2018.

A craft in orbit
above the earth

puts the u.S.
Authorities on high alert.

The satellite was
behaving strangely.

Narrator: It begins moving in
ways that satellites don't.

Oluseyi: Satellites typically
move according to

what we would describe
as a ballistic orbit.

They're falling
around the earth,

but if you see a satellite
that's doing maneuvers,

it's not just falling,
it's zipping about,

something's different
about this satellite.

Narrator: The suspicious craft
is quickly linked

to the russians.

The state department calls out
the russians on it,

but they deny everything,
as usual.

The russians claim that this is
a harmless inspection satellite,

but if we look at its behavior
and what it's doing,

it doesn't seem routine.

So it's highly suspicious.

Narrator: Some fear that this
mysterious craft

could be something
far more dangerous

than the russians
would have us believe.

Pickens: The fact is,
the russians are absolutely

doing something
that we've never seen before.

If it is a weapon,
how dangerous is it?

This is not the first time
that the russians have been up

to something
suspicious in space.

Narrator: February 4, 1993.
A beam of light

over two and half miles wide
flashes across europe.

It's moving fast, raking
the earth from France to russia

in just over five minutes.

All across europe,
people are reporting

that there was this bright light
zooming across the sky.

Teitel: You can imagine people
thinking, "what is that?

A satellite?
A falling star?"

it's turning night into day.

Where is it coming from?

Teitel: The path of the beam
matches the path

of the space station mir,
which raises the question --

what are the russians
doing up there?

Agencies are on this right away.

They want to know --
is this a threat?

It was claiming the russians

were trying to do
some sort of experiment.

There was a large mirror
in space.

Narrator: A satellite with
a mirror firing light

down onto the earth
reminds analysts

of sci-fi wonder weapons
that the nazis designed

but never got off
the drawing board.

Is it possible the russians
have taken a leaf

out of hitler's playbook?

Narrator: During world war ii,

hitler and his scientists
developed plans for wunderwaffe,

or "wonder weapons."

these terrible devices,
including jet aircraft,

long-range rockets, and atomic
weapons, were designed

to swing the war
in germany's favor.

The most ambitious plan
was for a space-based weapon.

Hitler wanted to take the power
of the sun

and create a space ray gun.

He imagined that he could
harness this power

and burn his way to victory.

Gottlieb: It was a simple idea.

Launch a massive lens
into space, right,

focus it down
on enemy territory,

and burn up enemy targets.

Narrator: Hitler recognized
the sun as a power for evil,

more potent
than any nuclear weapon,

and he could harness
its destructive potential

with a mile-wide mirror.

The amount of energy this thing
could pinpoint

onto the surface of the earth

wouldn't just set simple
flammable objects on fire.

It could obliterate
entire cities.

You could render human societies
like ants

under a magnifying glass.

Narrator: Defeat in war
prevented the nazis

from constructing
their solar super weapon.

Thank god hitler didn't launch
a space mirror

because, frankly,
if he had been able

to launch anything into space,

we would have changed
the narrative of world history.

Narrator: But hitler's advanced
weapon scientists find jobs

after the war in america
and in communist russia.

America got rocket technology
from the ruins of nazi germany.

But could the russians
have acquired something else?

The question is, what are
the russians developing?

Why are they deploying mirrors
in space?

Narrator: Coming up...

The threat of a russian-operated
nazi space weapon.

Conventional forces have
no defense

against what would essentially
be a burning ray

coming from space.

Narrator: And biblical
calamities like noah's flood.

A scientist links them
to planets

veering wildly through space.

Water vapor,
material from saturn

flew across the solar system,

and that's what
caused all the rain.

♪

narrator: In 1993, a russian
satellite fires a beam of light

from space,
causing panic across europe.

Experts fear that
this could be the test

of a resurrected
nazi terror weapon.

The russians announce that
the device has been launched

from the mir space station.

It is called the znamya 2
space mirror.

This space mirror
was engineered beautifully.

It's not a rigid mirror

like we're accustomed
to here on earth.

It goes up in a barrel
and then it unfurls.

It's a thin, flexible material
that reflects sunlight,

and when it's fully deployed,
it's 65 feet across.

To put the size of this mirror
into context,

consider the biggest
space telescopes

that we have right now.

Their mirrors are only
about 6 feet across.

Narrator: The largest is on
the hubble space telescope,

which measures just
7.8 feet across.

Now you've got a 65-foot mirror.

What are you doing with that?

Narrator: The russian government
claims its motives

for launching a sci-fi space
mirror are entirely innocent.

The purpose for this
is not an experiment.

It is to create artificial
lighting for cities

or for areas on earth
which don't get enough light,

and that could, of course,
improve economy.

Russia, of course, has these
huge polar regions

which are in darkness
for big part of the year.

Narrator: But many observers
are skeptical

and believe this mirror could
have military applications.

Orwoll: With the russians,
you're never exactly sure,

and you wonder, "is this also
potentially testing

for some sort of weapon?"

even if the mirror's designed
for peaceful purposes,

it could be made
very deadly very quickly.

Narrator: Just a tweak to
the mirror's design

and it becomes a much
more sinister device.

By changing the focus
of the beam,

you could go from good
for humanity,

helpful mirror to weaponized
city obliterator.

Narrator:
Since the znamya launch,

the russians have had
another quarter century

to advance their technology.

If we consider the size of the
mirror that's within our grasp,

I'd say a thousand feet
is definitely doable.

Now, imagine that
you could focus

that into a tiny beam
at earth's surface.

Who knows what you could do?

Narrator: If the russians have
perfected the nazi design,

the mirror could vaporize
a single individual.

And with another adjustment,
such a mirror

might direct a 2 1/2-mile-wide
beam of white-hot death

at the united states

big enough to burn
through towns and cities.

Conventional forces
have no defense against

what would essentially be
a burning ray coming from space.

Then we'll probably
all be toast.

Narrator: New york, 1950.

Russian academic
immanuel velikovsky

unveils an incredible theory --

that the epic disasters
described in the bible

were caused
by objects from space.

He believed that these events
were caused by wandering planets

and solar systems in flux.

Gottlieb: If velikovsky
was correct

and religious texts
like the bible

do, in fact,
record physical history,

the universe is a very
different place than we believe.

Narrator:
In the book of genesis,

a great flood engulfs the earth

after 40 days
and 40 nights of rain.

The only survivors are
the passengers on noah's ark.

Velikovsky was able to pose a
theory of the physical mechanism

whereby a flood
could have happened

the way the bible told it.

Narrator: Velikovsky suggested
that planetary disturbances

on saturn may have been
the celestial event

that triggered the deluge.

Water vapor,
material from saturn,

flew across the solar system
to planet earth,

and that's what caused
all the rain.

Narrator: In the book of exodus,
10 plagues hammer egypt,

killing children, livestock,

and making the river nile
run red with blood.

These events velikovsky blames
on venus.

Birnes: What velikovsky posited

was that jupiter,
at a very early stage,

burped out what would become
the planet venus.

It was actually a comet,

and when it came in close
contact in proximity to earth,

the tail of the comet venus,
as the earth passed through it,

caused the biblical plagues that
you see in the old testament.

Narrator: Velikovsky published
his ideas in a book titled

"worlds in collision."

it was an instant best seller.

The reading public
in the 1950s ate it up,

and that's what caused
velikovsky's own collision

with mainstream science.

Narrator: Linking the bible with
scientific astronomy

did not go down well
with space scientists.

He lost all his
professional credibility.

Narrator: But 60 years after
the publication

of "worlds in collision,"

some astronomers are looking
again at its basic arguments.

Could it be that velikovsky
is right

and that extraterrestrial events
have impacted life on earth?

Narrator: Coming up...

Astronomers warn of a new
terrifying biblical plague.

What we're dealing with
is extraterrestrial virus,

and that is extremely
frightening.

Narrator: And a weird mist
appears on the lunar surface.

Maybe we're not right about
the moon being completely dead.

♪

narrator: Controversial russian
academic immanuel velikovsky

believed that events
in the heavens

caused the great
biblical catastrophes.

At the time, his ideas
were dismissed

as fanciful nonsense by n.A.S.A.

But a few scientists

are revisiting
velikovsky's theories.

It is now accepted that
apocalyptic events on earth,

including mass extinctions,

have been caused
by astronomical events.

Velikovsky may have been
wrong on the specifics,

but he may have been right
about a comet catastrophe

affecting earth.

People did indeed believe
in ancient societies

that the advent of a comet
was an omen.

Maybe there was a grain of truth

to what those people
were thinking.

Narrator: In 2007, a group
of six scientists

from america, australia,

and russia suggest
a possible link

between the flood story
in the bible

and the crashing into the earth
of a large comet

which hit the indian ocean
5,000 years ago.

The impact of this comet
would have had

devastating consequences.

I mean, it could have created
600-foot waves.

I mean, these are mega tsunamis

that would have wiped out
civilizations along shorelines

and devastated
entire communities.

Narrator: The group claims to
find evidence of a giant wave

that swept miles
over the land.

Some even suggest
that this comet impact

might explain the 40 days
and 40 nights of rain

described in the bible.

That impact would have thrown up
a vast amount of moisture,

of debris
into the atmosphere.

Narrator: Velikovsky also
thought that the planet venus

caused the great plagues
of egypt.

Now some scientists believe
that killer plagues

may well originate in space.

Although velikovsky was wrong
in asserting

that pandemics
came from venus,

he was certainly right in saying
that pandemics came from space.

They came from comets.

Narrator: Space is populated,
some scientists now believe,

with extraterrestrial
life-forms,

which, if they reach earth,
can enter and infect humans.

If that's the case,
what we're dealing with

is extraterrestrial virus,

and that is
extremely frightening.

Narrator: Alien life-forms
carried by comets

may be the cause of some of
the most tragic events

in human history.

The idea that comets bring death
is very clearly written

in the record of pandemics,
of diseases, of epidemiology --

like the great plague of athens,

like the plague of justinian
in the early-christian era.

Narrator: Our ancient ancestors
saw the appearance of a comet

as a worrying sign
of some impending disaster.

Some astronomers are finally
accepting

that there may be reasoning

behind this apparent
superstition.

The importance of velikovsky
is that he alerted the world

to the fact
that the earth is vulnerable,

vulnerable
to the tails of comets.

Narrator: Angry gods
or alien disease

hitching a ride on comets.

One thing's certain,
there's more cosmic trouble

heading our way.

It's gonna happen, and when
it does, you better watch out.

Narrator: July 20, 1969.

Apollo 11 touches
down on the moon...

The eagle has landed.

...Bringing with it
the very first humans

to step foot on another world.

It's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.

On that very first mission,

astronauts neil armstrong
and buzz aldrin

encounter something that
remains to this day unexplained.

There was kind of a bright cloud
existing over many minutes.

Narrator: Aldrin described this
strange glow on moon's surface

as brighter than anything he
could see in either direction.

Scientists are baffled.

Radebaugh: What are
these things? I don't know.

Maybe we're not right about
the moon being completely dead.

Narrator: Despite being our
closest celestial neighbor,

there is much about the moon
that is shrouded in mystery.

In total, humans have only
spent 80 hours on the moon.

We have made a superficial
inspection

only of a tiny fraction
of the surface,

and the dark side
remains a mystery.

But almost 40 years
after armstrong's mission,

a lunar probe launched by india,
the chandrayaan-1,

lands on the surface
of the moon.

On board is n.A.S.A.'s
moon mineralogy mapper,

and it makes
an astonishing discovery.

In 2018, n.A.S.A.

Announced definitive proof
from their mineralogy mapper

of water on the moon.

Moran: I mean, we've been
looking for water for years,

decades, till finally, we looked
in the right place

in the right way
and found it.

Narrator: Water is the elixir
of the cosmos.

Where there is water,
there is very possibly life.

Ever since the end
of the apollo program in 1972,

we've been wondering,
"should we go back to the moon?

Is it worth returning?"

this discovery is a real
lunar game changer.

Narrator: But it's not just the
possibility of life on the moon.

In space, water is fuel.

Gutheinz: Today, we have
a modern-day gold rush.

Not for gold, but for water,

because in space, water is gold.

Narrator: Experts now fear

a deadly stampede
to conquer the moon.

♪

♪

narrator: In August 2018,
a n.A.S.A. Probe

discovers
the seemingly impossible --

water on the surface
of the moon.

And this can't be water that has
arrived from icy comet impacts.

Any water that may have been
delivered to the moon,

it should have evaporated
right into space.

There's no atmosphere
there to help trap it,

and so it basically escapes.

Narrator: And yet the n.A.S.A.
Probe has mapped out billions

of gallons of water
on the lunar surface.

At the polar regions,

there are regions
where sunlight never reaches,

especially because
there are deep craters there,

and within those craters

are places called
permanently-shadowed regions.

In those locations,
ice can remain there

for billions of years.

Narrator: Scientists now have
an astonishing theory

as to where this ice
has come from.

Radebaugh: A possible way
for there to be water

at the permanently-shadowed
regions

is that it actually escaped
out of the moon.

Narrator: This could finally
explain the mysterious mist

encountered by the apollo
astronauts.

Radebaugh: If it's gas coming
out of the interior,

one of the most likely
components could be water.

So you have water
escaping out of the interior

of the moon today,
and that's really exciting.

Narrator: It's possible that
vast quantities of water

may now exist
deep within the moon --

a remnant of the time
when it was a hot

and geologically active world,

and this water escapes
to the surface as gas.

To find any sort of water
on the surface of any world

besides earth
is a huge, huge discovery.

Discovering water on the moon
is like discovering gold,

except it's much,
much more valuable than that.

Narrator: Besides
the possibility of lunar life,

scientists believe they can use
the moon's water

to propel humans much further,
much faster into space.

Propulsion engineer tim pickens
explains the principal

of using hydrogen and oxygen
in water to create an explosion

that can fire
a spacecraft engine.

These are solar panels,
very standard.

You take normal water, take
an electrolyzer -- this device.

This is basically nothing
but stainless steel plates.

You can use electricity
and actually separate hydrogen

and oxygen,
and they exit here.

Narrator: After separating
the water's hydrogen and oxygen,

bubbles are collected
in a balloon at the top.

This doesn't look like
a lot of gas,

but it is a lot of power.

Narrator: The balloon is
carefully placed on the ground.

All right, stand back
and get ready.

We're gonna light
this candle.

♪

boom!
Man, that's powerful!

Narrator:
The explosion here is small,

but scaled up
and conducted in space,

water fuel is expected
to revolutionize space travel.

Pickens:
There's a trick to this.

All right, so we've got our
oxygen and I've got my hydrogen.

Got my rocket thruster
right here.

This combusts these gasses.

-You ready?
-All right.

Hydrogen/oxygen lunic solder
in 3, 2, 1.

Wow!

That is real rocket thrust.
This thing is amazing.

It runs on hydrogen and oxygen

that we can make
from ice on the moon.

This motor could go
on a rocket today.

Narrator:
And there's a huge advantage
to having this fuel source

on the moon
rather than the earth.

To get off the earth, a rocket
has to have something like

80% or 90% of its takeoff weight
is propellant.

Pickens: On the moon, you have
1/6th of the gravity.

That means it takes about 1/6th
of the energy

that it would to leave
the moon's gravity

to go somewhere else.

It's almost like the moon
becomes a gas station

that we can stop off at,
fill up our fuel tanks,

and continue on
to another planet.

Narrator: Water is too heavy
to carry up from earth,

but if the moon can act
as a lunar gas station,

the whole nature
of space exploration changes.

The problem is, who owns this
huge reserve of galactic fuel?

Who does this water belong to
and who gets to use it first?

And now there is a race
to get back to the moon,

and the race is not just between
the u.S. And russians.

Now it's china and india,
spacex, whatever.

Business wise, the moon

is starting to look like
a good investment.

Schultz: This is a prize
worth fighting for.

The gold rush is on.

Narrator: The moon could become
the gateway to the other worlds

in our solar system,

but some fear it may spark
the first great space war.

There's a lot of concern
over who's going to be leading

the charge when it comes
to further space exploration.

It's still very territorial.

So there's gonna be
competition in space

just as there's competition
here on earth.

Narrator: The grand prize to
the winner is much greater

than just the moon itself.

Whoever controls the moon
will control the solar system.

Gutheinz: If it's russia,
if it's china,

they'll have their own agenda,

but if it's the united states,

it could very well be
our launching pad...

For mars.