All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S01E06.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator: eyes in the sky,
Watching us from space.

Hundreds of satellites
Showing us the world

Like we've never seen it before,

Capturing images which are
Breathtaking but bizarre,

Objects and phenomena
Which defy explanation.

What is that?

Narrator: in the middle
Of the gobi desert,

A perplexing mile-wide
Rectangular grid

Of jagged lines.

There's no way
These features are natural.

Narrator:
A weird pattern in the clouds

That some link
To the bermuda triangle.

Being underneath
One of those can be

A pretty bad experience on land

And if you're in a boat,
It could be a whole lot worse.

Narrator:
What looks like a huge iron door
In the antarctic --

Evidence of a secret nazi base?

The germans definitely
Had the know-how

To build and construct
In extreme environments.

Narrator:
And could satellites lead us to
A lost city of fabulous wealth,

The atlantis of the sands?

If we have found it,
This is a huge discovery.

Narrator: baffling phenomena
Seen from space.

What on earth are they?

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

In 1972,

The crew of apollo 17 take
A famous photograph of the earth

As they travel towards the moon.

They call it "The blue marble."

Miller:
It really just floored everyone

And just gave the sense
Of we're all connected.

Narrator:
40 years later,

Satellite technology
Has advanced so much

It produces this image --

"The black marble."

At night now,
With "The black marble,"

We're seeing so much more.

The things that stand out to you
Right away are the cities.

Kourounis:
The earth at night, from space,

Is like a brilliant light show.

Everywhere
That there's human civilization,

There's gonna be light.

Narrator: in 2012,
The suomi npp satellite passes

Over the vast, empty wilderness

Of the western australia outback
At night.

It captures on camera
A series of lights

That can't be fully explained.

There's lights there where
You know there shouldn't be.

It demands your attention.

There's something going on
There that I don't understand.

Narrator: western australia
Is vast and empty.

It's about a million
Square miles.

That's 1 1/2 alaskas,

And yet it has the same
Population as brooklyn.

So it makes no sense

That there are so many lights
Across the country.

There's more light here than in
The biggest cities on the coast.

There are no cities out there,
So what could those be?

Narrator:
A clue could be in the way
The image was produced.

This is not a single photo,

But a composite
Of multiple images.

Agass:
The composite image was taken

Over 9 days in april
And 12 days in october 2012.

So the areas of light

That we see in the imagine
May not have all been

Present on the same night.

Narrator: could this be
A series of forest fires,

Which the satellite computer
Has gathered together

Into one image?

Kourounis: australia is
Routinely plagued by drought,

And forest fires
Accompany that quite regularly.

Narrator: but some analysts
Think this is unlikely.

The light is simply too bright,

And the area covered,
Too big to be forest fires.

These are huge.

If these are forest fires,
They must be massive.

The fire's on a scale

That we're not used to seeing
Anywhere else in the world.

Narrator:
But if they're not forest fires,
What could they be?

Following a hunch, scientists
Compare the satellite image

With another, taken at night
Over north dakota.

This sparsely populated state
Only shows up

On nighttime satellite images
As a patch of darkness.

And yet, one satellite image
Taken in 2012

Reveals a cluster of lights.

It looks like chicago moved
To north dakota.

The night-lights are, you know,
That bright there.

Narrator:
Analysts attempt to explain it

As something to do
With the oil fracking industry.

Evans:
It's big business.

They've gone at it
Like no other time in history.

It's like a gold rush right now.

In order to get the oil out,

You have to put explosives
Down there.

And you frack it by essentially
Blowing up the reservoir

And allowing the oil to escape.

Narrator: oil fracking produces
A by-product -- natural gas.

It's hard to capture it
And store it,

So, instead, it's burnt off --
A process called flaring.

Across north dakota,

In the night sky,
Are flared wells.

Narrator:
Fracking does take place
In australia,

But most of australia's
Fracking sites

Are concentrated on the eastern
Side of the country,

Over 1,000 miles from lights
In the satellite image.

So it can't be fracking.

Scientists consider
Another exciting possibility.

Could the image be evidence
Of something

Never caught on satellite camera
Before --

Ball lightning?

Kourounis:
Ball lightning has got to be

One of the most bizarre
Phenomena on the planet.

So few people have witnessed it

That science is only just
Barely understanding

That the phenomena exists.

Some ball lightning
Just disappears.

Other ball lightning
Will literally explode.

We found some historical events,

Where things like chimneys

Have literally exploded
Into a mass of bricks

When a ball of lightning
Went into the chimney

And then ignited.

Narrator:
But lightning researchers
Don't buy this theory.

Kourounis: if this phenomenon
In western australia

Really is ball lightning,

Then it would have
To be ball lightning

On a scale
That is uncomprehendible.

narrator: so what can be made
of the remarkable lights

Captured on satellite cameras
Over australia?

Aboriginal francis firebrace
Thinks he might know --

A phenomenon he first
Witnessed as a child.

I can remember
On several occasions

Driving along with my father,

I looked out the window

And I said, "Dad,
That min min light there.

See that light?"

And he used to say,
"Don't worry about it, boy."

But it would follow us.

Narrator: for centuries,
Aboriginal peoples have told

Stories of bright,
Hovering lights in australia.

They're known as min min lights.

This light would appear from --

It seems from out of nowhere.

I can't explain it,

But it was a shimmering ball
Of fire-like substance.

It would dance through the trees
To a timed rhythm, it seemed.

It would hover there and
Shimmer, and then -- whew! --

It was gone.

Narrator:
There have been thousands
Of reports of min min lights.

Eyewitnesses described seeing
Glowing orbs in the sky.

There are many theories
About the min min lights

But none have been
Scientifically verified.

Whatever they were,

The extraordinary lights
Captured by satellite

Have now gone.

A satellite passing over
The frozen antarctic wilderness

Photographs something strange.

Gough: I'm looking at this image
And I'm thinking,

"It looks like a door,

A big, steel door into the earth
In the antarctic."

Narrator:
Could this image be a clue

To nazi activities
Prior to world war ii?

Summerhayes:
The germans went to antarctica

To do a reconnaissance
To build a base.

Narrator:
Is this the entrance of a secret
Underground facility?

You really could not find
A better place

To hide than antarctica.

It is at the end of the earth.

No one is gonna chase you there.

Narrator: a satellite flying
Over the antarctic wilderness

Captures what appears to be
The mouth of a cave

Or some sort
Of entrance into the ground.

Gough: I'm looking at this image
And I'm thinking,

"It looks like a door,

A big, steel door into the earth
In the antarctic."

Narrator:
There have been dozens of bases

Established in the antarctic
Which have since been abandoned.

Is this one of which there is
No official record?

Summerhayes: the germans had
Three expeditions to antarctica.

The third one is the one
In 1938-39 which was run

Under the aegis
Of hermann goring.

They were looking for a spot
On the antarctic coast

Where they could build
Their own base.

Narrator:
Nobody knows for sure why the
Nazis wanted an antarctic base.

And, if they built one,
There's no record of it.

You really could not find
A better place

To hide than antarctica.

It is at the end of earth.

No one is gonna chase you there.

Narrator:
Building a base in the antarctic

Poses huge
Logistical challenges.

Pavelec: we're talking
About the antarctic here,

The least hospitable
And least accessible place

On the entire planet.

Narrator:
Anyone building a base

Could certainly
Have worked unobserved.

The antarctic is 5.5 million
Square miles

Of barren,
Uninhabited nothingness.

But the conditions are brutal --

Ground temperatures
Of minus 30 degrees fahrenheit.

Icy winds of up to
200 miles per hour.

Analysts scrutinize
The satellite image.

By counting the pixels,

They calculate
That the fissure in the center

Is 120 feet across.

Could this strange,
Gray object be natural?

Colin summerhayes
Is a polar research specialist.

That seems far too large
To be a man-made object.

It's probably some natural
Feature of the surroundings.

Narrator: but what?

Geologists compare the image
With examples of ice crevasses,

But this seems different.

This looks more like
A gigantic cave entrance.

But it's the object
At the entrance to the cave

That suggests something
Man-made.

To some, it looks mechanical,

Like some curved,
Gray metal door.

And around the rim, huge rivets.

But if it is man-made,
How did it get here?

Fretwell:
Antarctica is the only place
With no indigenous people.

Humans are an alien species
On this continent.

Narrator:
The object is big.

If this is engineered,

It's engineering
On an impressive scale.

Constructing this would take
Industrial know-how

And some powerful motivation.

Who would have the logistics
Or the reasoning

To put a hole this far
Into this extreme environment?

Narrator: at the start
Of the 20th century,

A number of leading world powers

Were making exploratory
Expeditions to the antarctic --

The british, the japanese
And the germans.

Summerhayes: the germans had
Three expeditions to antarctica.

The third one is the one
In 1938-39 which was run

Under the aegis
Of hermann goring.

Narrator:
Goring, who founded the gestapo,

Was second only to hitler
In the nazi hierarchy.

For him to personally oversee
An expedition to the antarctic,

It must be considered
Of great strategic importance.

Summerhayes:
The germans went to antarctica
In 1938-39

To do a reconnaissance
To build a base.

Narrator: the germans
Were not the only world power

With a strategic interest
In the antarctic,

But they were one of the few

With the ability
To do anything about it.

Pavelec: the germans definitely
Had the know-how

To build and construct
In extreme environments,

Like underground and in mines.

Narrator:
History does not record

If the nazis built their base.

It's usually assumed
They were too preoccupied

Fighting on the eastern
And western fronts.

But at the end of the war,

Something curious
Occurred in argentina,

A staging post for expeditions
To the antarctic.

It was a great surprise

When two u-boats
Turned up in argentina

Immediately after the war.

In the middle of july,
One u-boat arrived,

And then,
In the middle of august,

Another u-boat arrived.

Narrator: were these u-boats
Delivering supplies

Or transporting people
To a secret nazi antarctic base?

It seems too incredible
To be true,

And yet,
Shortly after the war ended,

The u.S. Military turned
Its attention to the region.

[ air horn honks ]

In 1946, the u.S. Government

Sent a large military task force
To the antarctic.

The operation included
Two icebreakers, a submarine,

An aircraft carrier,
Two destroyers,

Multiple aircraft,
And 5,000 troops.

It was called
Operation highjump.

Summerhayes:
One of the ideas

About the american
Highjump expedition

Was that it had been
Sent to antarctica

To deal with this german menace,

A supposed german fortress
In antarctica.

Narrator: but that was not
The official purpose.

Pope:
The official explanation is this
Was just military exercises.

Thousands of people
Going halfway around the world

To play a few war games
In the snow

Doesn't quite add up to me.

If america really wanted just to
Do some cold-weather training,

There are plenty of places they
Could go much closer to home --

Alaska, canada.

Why go to the south pole?

Narrator:
Most historians think the idea

Of a secret nazi ice station
Is too farfetched.

Summerhayes:
It's highly unlikely

That the germans
Were able to build a base there,

A huge base
That would contain hundreds

Or even thousands of people.

You just have to imagine
The huge logistical challenge.

Narrator:
And yet, there is no denying
Goring's antarctic expedition

Or the explicit desire
Of the nazis

To establish an antarctic base

Or the appearance in argentina
After the war

Of two u-boats.

This satellite image
May be a trick of the light

Or a strange rock formation,

But it may be something more.

Fretwell:
Until you get on the ground,

You can never be
Absolutely certain.

Narrator:
the space shuttle endeavour

Takes an image
Of the american midwest

That stuns geologists.

Rampino: there are these
Eight circular scars

That stretch from illinois
To kansas.

Narrator:
Like a straight line of craters
From eight meteor impacts.

It would be, like,
A hiroshima-level bomb

Hitting
In each of these eight sites.

Narrator:
February 2000.

the space shuttle endeavour
embarks upon an 11-day mission

To create a detailed 3d picture
Of the earth.

Passing high
Over western missouri,

It captures valleys,
Rivers, and creeks.

But the shuttle's radar
Reveals something else --

A vast, circular crater
In the earth.

But intriguingly,
This just one of eight craters

Stretching 450 miles
From the east to west,

Forming a straight line

That seems to run
Along the 38th parallel.

What are these craters,
And why are they in a line?

Geologist kevin evans

Is investigating the largest
Of the craters

Revealed by
the shuttle endeavour,

Known as weaubleau.

Evans: weaubleau's structure
Is 12 miles across.

That's the outer part
Of the ring.

The inner ring is about
3 1/2 to 4 miles across,

So it's an unusual
Sort of feature.

Narrator: as a geologist,
Evans has examined many craters.

But this one is unlike anything
He has seen before.

It's surrounded by what
Looked like bizarre eggs.

So these are weaubleau eggs.

They can get smaller
Than the size of an acorn

But they can get
As big as a basketball.

Narrator:
These stone eggs have been
Found nowhere else on earth.

Dixon:
So there are mysterious holes.

Around them are these weird,
Egg-like objects.

Sounds like something
Out of a science-fiction movie.

Narrator:
Could the eggs be explained
By the strange line of craters?

One of the most common causes
Of a huge crater

Is volcanic activity.

There are 169 volcanoes
In the u.S.,

But most are found on the
Geologically volatile west coast

And alaska.

That would make
This line of craters

The most easterly volcanoes
In north america.

But why are they in a line?
Are they linked?

Are these calderas or craters
Part of some terrifying complex

Of volcanoes
Running across the u.S.?

Some of the most dangerous
Volcanoes

Are those that erupt
So much magma

That the cone actually
Collapses into the ground

And you're left with just
A large hole, or caldera.

Narrator: super eruptions
From such craters

Can be one of the most
Destructive forces

On the planet.

A super eruption would be
The ultimate geologic hazard.

A super eruption wouldn't just
have local impacts.

it would have global impacts.

Narrator: the idea that eight
Giant volcanic eruptions

Caused this 450-mile-long chain
Of craters

Seems a logical theory

Until evans discovers something
At the weaubleau crater.

Shocked quartz.
Boom. There it was.

It's like,
"No, is that really what it is?"

Narrator: shocked quartz
Was first discovered

In nevada in the 1960s

In craters produced
By nuclear explosions.

It's not the product
Of volcanic activity

But from immensely violent
Events,

Such as humans letting off
A massive nuclear bomb

Or a huge meteor impact...

Something came from outer space.

It would have taken
About seven seconds

To come all the way through
The atmosphere...

...Strike the earth 20 times
Faster than a speeding bullet.

When that meteorite hit,
It would have caused tsunamis.

It would have shaken the ground
In this area.

And so, what we have here today
Is the remains of that impact.

Narrator:
The meteorite strike theory

Could explain
The crater at weaubleau

And maybe the bizarre eggs.

This is one
That's been broken open.

This is the yolk.

It's silt stone.

When this meteorite impact
Occurred,

It blasted all sorts of rocks
Out of here.

And one of the rocks that it hit
Was a silt stone rock body.

It was deep inside
Of the impact.

And when it got blasted out
As ejecta,

It would have been red-hot.

Narrator:
Red-hot fragments of silt stone

Would have been thrown
Into the air

And cooled slowly over time.

Microscopic quartz crystals

Begin to accumulate
Around that silt stone class,

And if you can imagine,

Year after year,
Perhaps even thousands of years,

This accumulated a growth,
And it grew right in the rock.

Narrator:
The shocked quartz and the eggs
Point to a meteor strike,

But why are there eight craters
All in a line?

To have a set
Of circular structures

Across the middle
Of the united states

In and of itself is nothing
All that remarkable.

But what are the chances
You'd put everything in a line?

You can do that calculation,

And it turns out
It's literally

About 1 in a 2.5 billion chance.

Narrator:
One clue to how this happened
Can be found in space.

In 1994,
Gene shoemaker,

The man who discovered
Shocked quartz,

Also sighting a comet
Hurdling towards jupiter

At over 100,000 miles per hour.

Durda:
Jupiter's gravity tore apart,

Just ripped to shreds,
Comet shoemaker-levy 9,

Making this set of impacts
All at about one latitude.

And that gave us that
Sort of "Aha!" moment,

That clue, that understanding

Of a new process
We hadn't thought of before.

The same way a machine gun
Will leave

A line of holes in a wall...

[ machine gun fire ]

...These comets
Were leaving a line

Of impact scars on the earth.

It would be like
A hiroshima-level bomb

Hitting at each
Of these eight sites.

Narrator:
And alarmingly,

It's a catastrophe
That's due again.

Every 30 million years,
There's a pulse of impacts,

Probably comets
Hitting the earth.

And the last of these pulses

Was about
30 or so million years ago.

So, you might say, according
To that kind of time scale,

The time has come
For another impact period.

Narrator:
Radar reveals strange markings
Hidden beneath arabia.

This thing is like a mirage
Coming out of the desert.

Narrator: could these marks
Lead to a lost, ancient city,

The legendary
Atlantis of the sands?

If we've actually
Found it from space,

Well, then,
That's quite a thing.

Narrator:
April 13th, 1994.

space shuttle endeavor
is passing over southern oman

On the arabian peninsula.

It's carrying state-of-the-art
Radar technology.

It scans oman's
So-called empty quarter.

At 250,000 square miles,

It's the largest, continuous
Stretch of sand on earth.

Huston: the empty quarter
Is empty for a reason,

And that's because there's just
Not much there,

Let alone water or the ability
To cross it with any confidence.

Narrator: the radar identifies
A series of tracks,

Invisible to the naked eye.

These paths just appear,

And they are clear
That they were there in history

And they're not there now.

Narrator:
The tracks are 100 miles
From the nearest city.

Analysts conclude
That they must be ancient,

But why are they here?

Tracks, roads in the desert.
They must be leading somewhere.

Clearly is a location
Of extreme importance

And the place
Where numerous paths

Came together in the old days.

Narrator:
The experts are excited.

According to legend,
There was once

A fabulously wealthy city
Here.

It was said to have been founded
By the grandson of noah.

The city was named "Ubar."

It has been called
"The atlantis of the sands."

Generations of archaeologists

Have been searching in vain
For a while.

If we've actually
Found it from space,

Well, then,
That's quite a thing.

Huston: even t.E. Lawrence,
The famous lawrence of arabia,

Was told of it
And had as one of his goals

To go back and find it,

But unfortunately died
Before he was able to do that.

Narrator:
The quran describes ubar

As a city
Of lofty pillars or towers,

The like of which
Has never been seen.

In the "Arabian nights," it's
Described as paradise on earth.

Thousands of years ago,

Ubar was a rich trading center
Of the arab world.

Merchants came to ubar
With great caravans of camels,

Weighed down with silks
And spices, precious stones,

Aromatic perfumes,
And other exotic arabian goods,

Including the most
Prized commodity of all --

Frankincense.

Frankincense was as valuable
As gold in the ancient world.

Huston: the wealth of ubar
Was attributable

Almost exclusively to one thing,

And that was frankincense.

Narrator:
Frankincense was produced

From the resin
Of the rare boswellia tree,

Hardened by the sun
Into a valuable crystal.

It was these perfumed crystals
That made ubar so rich.

If a satellite has discovered

The old frankincense
Trade route,

It could lead archaeologists
To the lost city of the sands.

Following the separate
Ancient tracks,

They seem to converge,
Like an arrow, to one point.

And at this very spot
Are the ruins of a fort.

Are these part
Of the ruins of ubar?

Geologists
Stumbled on these ruins in 1948,

But they attached no particular
Significance to them

And didn't explore them
In any depth.

If a city of lofty pillars
Did exist here,

How is it possible that nothing
Remains but the ruins

Of a solitary fort?

[ people screaming ]

Quran tells us that allah
Decimated the city

Because of its wickedness.

In the quran, it says that ubar
Was consumed in the sand.

Narrator: a vengeful god
Smiting an entire city,

The desert swallowing paradise.

It sounds like a fable...

...But experts think it may
Be a fable with a basis in fact.

Dr. Brittany brand believes
The real city of ubar

Could have been swallowed
By a giant desert sinkhole.

If you have a city that is built
On top of an underground cave

And that city is drawing water
Out of the grounds,

Then it's perfectly plausible

That part of that cave
Can collapse to form a sinkhole.

Sinkholes can happen
Catastrophically

Where the ground simply
Just collapses in on itself

With no warning.

Narrator:
So could there be a huge hole
Beneath the desert,

Hidden by thousands
Of years of shifting sands?

If so, ubar could be there,
Waiting to be discovered.

Excited by the breakthrough
Radar image,

Archaeologists move in
And excavate

Hundreds of tons of sand
From the site,

And they discover something.

Huston: they found pottery.

They found other evidence
Of what is certainly a city.

Narrator:
And a second discovery

Provides a clue
To the identity of the city.

Archaeologists found
Eight towers,

Which matches
What the quran says.

Narrator:
A city of lofty pillars.

That's pretty specific
And a good indicator

That this is the real site.

Narrator:
More recent images

Show the extent of the site
Uncovered by excavation.

They also appear to support
The sinkhole theory.

The outline of a vast hole
In the sand is clearly visible.

Beneath the ground,
Sinkholes can be much bigger

Than their surface size
Suggests,

Hundreds of times bigger.

The hidden ruins
Of this city could be vast,

A fabulously rich city
Swallowed by the earth.

Gough: what we have here
Is a fantastic example

Of the tandem
Of the satellite technology

With the on-site investigation

Revealing that ubar
Was built over a sinkhole.

Narrator: some scholars dispute
This is ubar.

If this was a great city,

Where are the skeletal remains
Of humans?

The sinkhole is too dangerous
To properly excavate.

Only mining equipment
Could reveal what's down there.

Until then,
No one can say for sure

Whether the fabled
Atlantis of the sands

Really has been identified
From space.

A satellite photographs
A bizarre pattern

Of hexagons over the bahamas.

Miller: what is that?

And you go and try to answer
That question

That no one's really
Been able to explain before.

Narrator:
Could these strange clouds

Solve one of the world's
Great riddles?

Cerveny: this may provide
Some vital clues

To understanding that long-term
Bermuda triangle mystery.

Narrator:
February 2002.

Nasa's terramoto satellite

Is orbiting 450 miles above
The north atlantic.

150 miles
Off the coast of florida,

Over the bahamas,

The satellite photographs
Coastal clouds

When it captures something
Meteorologists find strange.

When they analyze the image,

They spot a series
Of hexagon-shaped clouds.

Cerveny:
The satellite imagery
Is really bizarre,

With the hexagonal shapes
Of the cloud formations.

You don't typically
See straight edges with clouds.

Most of the time, clouds are
Random in their distribution.

Narrator:
The hexagons range in size
From 20 to 55 miles across.

Clouds like this would be
Intriguing anywhere,

But the location
Of these makes them fascinating.

This is the western tip
Of the bermuda triangle.

This notorious area
Of the north atlantic,

Between bermuda, florida,
And puerto rico

Is the scene of many
Reported disappearances

Of aircraft, ships, and people.

in 1918, the s.S. Cyclops

And over 300 crew members
Vanished.

In 1921, the carroll
a. Deering ran aground

With no sailors left on board.

In 1945, 5 u.S. Torpedo bombers
Flying over the area

Disappeared without a trace.

They became known
As "The lost squadron."

Scientists have spent years
Trying in vain

To explain these bizarre events,

But now we have satellites.

This type of satellite image
May provide some vital clues

To understanding that long-term
Bermuda triangle mystery.

Narrator:
So, how are these strange,
Hexagonal clouds

Connected with the disappearance
Of ships and planes?

The answer lies 4,500 miles away

In another satellite image taken
Over the turbulent north sea,

Off the coast
Of the united kingdom.

More hexagons, spreading
Over 35,000 square miles,

Roughly the size of ireland.

This image was captured
By the satellite envisat.

Envisat carries radar equipment

That can see through cloud
To what's happening below.

Cerveny:
With today's radar,

We can actually detect things
That, previous to that,

We simply couldn't have seen.

Narrator:
A radar image taken
At the same time

Reveals sea-level winds
Of almost 100 miles an hour.

That's the top
Of the beaufort scale,

Powerful enough to generate
Waves over 45 feet high.

I would not want to be in a boat
Underneath something like that.

Narrator:
Scientists believe

The powerful winds recorded
By radar in the north sea

Also exist below the hexagonal
Clouds over the bahamas.

And meteorologist randy cerveny
Thinks they're connected

To a terrifying
Atmospheric phenomenon.

These types of hexagonal shapes
Over the ocean

Are, in essence, air bombs.

They're formed
By what are called microbursts,

And they're blasts of air

That come down
Out of the bottom of the cloud

And then hit the ocean

And then create waves

That can sometimes be massive
In size

As they start to interact
With each other.

Narrator:
The blast from an air bomb,
Or microburst,

Spreads outwards at speeds
Of up to 170 miles per hour,

More than sufficient
To tear down trees on land

Or flip ships on water.

Cerveny: I can tell you
That being underneath

One of those microbursts

Can be a pretty bad experience
On land.

And if you're in a boat,
It can be a whole lot worse.

Narrator:
Microbursts, or air bombs,

Have been linked
With giant rogue waves,

Terrifying walls of water

That seem to appear
Out of nowhere.

Cruse ship passenger
Ronald clark

Experienced them firsthand.

We're cruising along,
Just like in "Titanic."

Everything was great.

We heard a loud crash,
Like a boom.

The ship was hit
By a rogue wave,

A 70-foot wave,
And it was terrifying.

I'm thinking,
Like, a missile hit the boat.

Narrator:
Clark lived to tell the tale.

Others weren't so lucky.

What's more,
Several aircraft disasters

Have been attributed
To these terrifying air bombs.

Even a large plane caught
In their powerful downdraft

Can lose control.

In 1982,
Pan am flight 759 went down

With a loss of 153 lives.

The official report
Blamed an air bomb.

If professor cerveny is right
And these strange hexagons

Are the signature
Of deadly air bombs,

Then this satellite image
Could provide an explanation

For the disappearance of ships,
like the s.S. Cyclops.

It could explain
How the lost squadron of '45

Was knocked out of the sky.

It could solve the riddle
Of the bermuda triangle.

Now, satellite analysts
Are scanning the triangle

For further signs
Of these weird clouds.

Cerveny: we can trigger an alarm
That will tell the forecaster

That, say, a microburst
Has been created.

It's no exaggeration
To say that satellites

Are actually lifesavers.

Narrator:
A satellite captures

A baffling grid etched
Into the gobi desert in china.

There's no way
These features are natural.

Narrator:
But if not natural,

Who put these lines
Onto the landscape and why?

It's clear that the chinese
Are pretending it's not there.

So, you have to think,
"Something's going on."

Narrator: april 4th, 2009.

Satellite quickbird flies high

Over the gobi desert
In northern china,

Almost 1 million square miles
Of sand and rock,

And it captures
Something weird --

A strange pattern
Etched into the desert.

Hill: there's no way
These features are natural.

These patterns
Are in a very remote area.

They involved a lot of material
To create them,

So they must have been put there

For some sort of
Important purpose.

Narrator:
These straight lines

And unnatural geometric shapes
Are baffling.

Experts closely analyze
The satellite image.

The grid is big.

It's a mile long
And a half a mile across.

The white lines that contrast
Sharply with black desert rock

Are as wide
As multi-lane freeways.

It's clearly man-made.

It's been clearly
Well thought out.

Maybe even city walls
Or sort of a street layout.

Narrator:
Could these be the ruins

Of some ancient,
Long-forgotten city?

800 years ago,

This place was ruled
By the great mongol warrior

Emperor genghis khan.

The silk road
Ran across this territory.

But historians
Can find no mention

In ancient mongolian texts
To a city here

Nor is there any reference
Which could explain

The large complex structure
Captured by satellite cameras.

Some folks
Think that maybe desert winds

Had revealed the walls
Of an ancient city,

But it really doesn't look
Anything like that at all.

Narrator:
But if this isn't an ancient
structure and it is man-made,

It must have a purpose.

These are highly reflective
Surfaces.

It's white paint, maybe,

Or cement that's been laid down.

Narrator:
Was this grid actually designed
To be seen from space?

Hill: when you launch a camera
Into space,

Usually want to look at targets
On the ground

That you know
Exactly what they look like

So you can verify
How your camera's performing.

And so, you build known targets
On the ground to look at.

Narrator: it's well known
In intelligence circles

That china has launched advanced
Spy satellites in recent years.

Is this symbol being used to
Calibrate their eyes in the sky?

Pope: I don't buy the satellite
Calibration theory.

That's old technology.

That's an old-fashioned way
Of doing it.

I think the chinese
Have moved way beyond that.

I think
Whatever these things are,

They've got another purpose.

Narrator:
There is a more worrying theory,

That this isn't a target
For calibration.

It's a target
For something else,

That this grid in the desert

Represents a key
Strategic location

Somewhere else on earth.

Hansen: they are a target
For some weapon,

Something that they're shooting.

Narrator: the strange grid
Is less than 300 miles

From the city of jiuquan,

Where china's space program
Is based,

A program controlled
By the chinese military.

If one country weaponizes space,

It's a huge
Technological advantage for them

And a massive concern
For everybody else.

The military advantage
Of getting a weapon in space

That can attack the ground is
You will have the high ground.

And if you can shoot at it,
So much the better.

Narrator: is china developing
Its own version

Of the "Star wars"
Space weapon program?

Our security is based on being
Prepared to meet all threats.

Reagan's "Star wars" initiative

Was an attempt
At shooting at a missile

From a satellite
With a laser or a particle beam,

Or some other exotic weapon.

Narrator: so, what are china's
Military leaders

Doing with their space port?

If they are conducting research
Into space weapons,

Could the bizarre grid,
Less than 300 miles away,

Be part of the program?

Pope: some people say
That these are city grids.

Well, if this is a city grid,
Let's see if we can find a match

And then we'll see what city
The chinese are interested in.

Narrator:
Analysts compare the pattern
With the layouts

Of various world cities.

There are similarities
In the desert lines

And circles with urban roads,
Intersections, and plazas...

But nothing conclusive.

The chinese authorities,
Meanwhile, are saying nothing.

Capps:
It's clear that the chinese
Are pretending it's not there.

So, you have to think,
"Something's going on."