All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S03E07.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator: they're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites
Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover
New mysterious phenomena.

Some defy explanation.

Bam! This sticks out
Like a sore thumb.

It must be something
Very big or very bad.

Narrator: a giant swastika marks
The desert outside roswell.

It's meant to be seen
From space.

Narrator: scientists discover
A weapon from another world.

No one in the world
Is capable of producing

That kind of metal.

Narrator: and mysterious
Black holes appear

In the australian outback.

You see these black circles,
And your mind just boggles.

How did they get there?

Narrator: baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space --

What on earth are they?

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator: new mexico, 2016.

An image on a mapping website
Causes an internet sensation.

At first glance,
All that's visible

Is a giant
Cross-shaped structure

Embedded in the ground.

Looking at the size of the
Thing, it's 400 meters across.

Narrator: but what catches
People's attention

Is the symbol concealed
Within the cross.

A symbol that is recognized
And feared all over the world.

It's a swastika.

This particular swastika
Isn't lying just anywhere.

It's lying just outside roswell.

Roswell, I mean,
the big ufo site.

On the ground,
You wouldn't see it at all.

It's meant to be seen
From space.

You have to ask yourself,

"Who's looking at it?
Who's the audience?"

Maybe they are welcoming signs.

Maybe it is a way
Of saying, "We are here.

This is what we believe in.

This is what we think about."

Maybe. Who knows?

It might be a message
To other people,

Viewed best from hundreds
Of miles in the air.

Narrator: the proximity
Of the symbol

To such a notorious site
Sparks intense speculation.

The swastika only means
One thing --

The nazis.

You have a gut reaction to it,
And it's usually revulsion.

So what is one
Of the most notorious,

Maybe hated, signs
Of prejudice in the world

Doing in the middle
Of the sands of new mexico?

Is someone putting out
A political message?

Narrator: some have suggested
The strange symbol

Could be the mark
Of an ancient culture

Communing with its sky gods.

The swastika symbol
Is actually common

To some native
American tribes,

And large geoglyphs
Carved into the earth

Are also common to some tribes.

So it's not that big of
A stretch to think

That could be the source.

First swastika is about
10,000 years ago.

It's found on paleolithic art.

Which also has the association

With ancient religions
In the east,

Particularly hinduism
And buddhism.

Narrator:
In the american southwest,

The swastika is sacred
To a particular people.

One of the groups
That's used swastika

And swastika-type symbology

Are a native american group
Living in this area, the navajo.

Narrator: the navajo
Are known for including

This symbol in large,

Ornate designs known
As sand paintings.

Horton: altering the earth
In this way

Is a prehistoric thing.

A sort of innate
Human thing to do.

So it's not impossible
That this is one such example.

Narrator: comparing the scale
And design of the symbol

With other examples
Of ancient art

Reveals a problem
With this theory.

This isn't just
A few meters across,

This is hundreds
Of meters in size.

And, while the ancient people
Did have great capabilities,

To do something quite on

That scale would be
Very unlikely.

Watkins: if you look
Closely at the image,

You'll see that the image
Of the swastika, itself,

Is not as distinct and clear
As a native american tribe

Would have wanted it to be.

Narrator:
Local resident harold brown

Has firsthand knowledge
Of the area.

He is certain there are more
Of the mysterious symbols

In the roswell desert.

When I was a child, here,
They were everywhere.

That was 70 years ago,

And you don't notice them now.

But there was a lot of them.

I don't know, I'll bet
You there was near 50

In a 150 mile radius.

Narrator: it leads
Some to suspect

That there is more
To this mystery

Than first meets the eye.

Looking at the entire picture,

Not only is there
This swastika in the middle,

But there's other
Areas and markings.

The concentric circles
That surround the swastika.

There are rectangles
With circles within them.

Narrator: to image analyst
Marc d'antonio,

The shapes surrounding
The pattern

Reveal its true purpose.

This is actually part of a much

More complex pattern
Seen in the land, here.

When we look at this
Object up at the top,

It's actually a battleship.

Seen in outline
On the desert floor.

And then, when we look at
The other objects over here,

This object could be
An old petroleum refinery.

If you actually take
A broader view of the site

And go outside
The actual swastika itself,

You realize, actually,
It's a military zone.

Narrator: in popular culture,
Roswell is ufo central.

But during the cold war,
The nearby airfield

Was a base for bombers
Carrying atomic weapons.

Roswell was a major
U.S. Army air force base,

With its origins back
Into the second world war.

Narrator: the town's
Military history

Is the key
To uncovering the nature

Of these mysterious
Desert symbols.

What we have here,
Is a totally abandoned

And almost forgotten bomb site.

What you're looking at,
Then, are targets.

They're all designed
To allow people

To practice bombing

On different sizes of targets,

Depending on what kind of
Ordinance they're dropping.

Brown: we had to have bomb sites

Because we couldn't
Practice bomb our cities

Or anything like that.

Narrator: the discovery
That the strange pattern

Is part of a bombing range

Leaves one question
Still unanswered.

We still don't know why there's
A swastika in the middle of it.

I think the swastikas
Were, basically, there

To incense the bomb crews.

"Lookit, we're gonna go be
Over there bombing these people.

Here's what we're bombing."

I gotta tell you,
If I'm a pilot

In world war ii
Wanting to practice,

That's the way I'd wanna do it.

Narrator: still to come,
An impossible dagger...

No one in the world is capable
Of producing that kind of metal.

Narrator: ...Creates
An enduring mystery.

How did king tut obtain iron

When iron, basically,
Didn't exist?

Narrator: but satellites
Might now provide a solution.

Is it possible that this
Is a source of that dagger?

Narrator: 2014 --

Aerial archaeologists
Capture images

Of a strange looking feature
In the jordan valley.

Van gijseghem:
Satellite images of a place

Called tell el-hemmeh in jordan,

Brought archaeologists
To investigate the site.

Narrator: analysis of data
From the site reveals

Something completely unexpected.

Turned out that it was
A large slag heap.

It's relatively easy
To identify metal slag

Using satellite images

If you have the correct range
Of bandwidths to work with.

Narrator: the satellite data
Indicates that tell el-hemmeh

Is saturated with iron.

As they dug deeper,
Archaeologist realized

They had struck
Something very unusual.

An ancient ironworks,
Dating back to a time

Before most of mankind
Could work the metal.

The site has links
With an ancient culture

Called the mitanni.

Dodson: they were one
Of the great powers

In the near east
For a couple of hundred years.

They had started off
As the enemies of egypt,

Because the egyptians were
Expanding the empire northwards.

But after a while,
They became allies,

And there is certainly
A lot of correspondence

Surviving between the kings.

Narrator: the discovery
Of a source of prehistoric iron

Could offer an answer
To a mystery

That's eluded archaeologists
For more than 90 years.

The mystery begins in
The valley of the kings, egypt.

Here, ancient egyptian pharaohs

Once lay buried among
Untold riches of gold and gems.

In 1922, british archaeologist
Howard carter stumbled across

The biggest archaeological
Discovery of the 20th century.

The tomb of tutankhamun
Remains one of the most stunning

Archaeological discoveries
Of all time.

Dodson: the tomb really
Captured people's imagination.

It was led to a whole
Outbursts of egyptomania

Where everything egyptian
Was sexy and cool.

Narrator:
The 3,300-year-old tomb
Was filled with treasure.

Tutankhamun's mummy was
Absolutely covered in jewelry,

Collars, amulets,
But also two daggers.

And one of those daggers
Had an iron blade.

Narrator: but king tut lived
During egypt's bronze age,

At a time when iron manufacture

Was technologically impossible.

How did king tut obtain iron

When iron, basically,
Didn't exist?

Narrator: one possible answer
Comes from a set of tablets

Written in an ancient
Middle eastern script

At the time of king
Tut's grandfather.

The amarna letters are
A series of ancient texts

That date from the time period

Right before
Tutankhamun's reign.

And among other things,
They mention

A series of gifts sent to egypt

By rulers of
Neighboring kingdoms.

Included in this list

Is a number of daggers
With iron blades.

Is it possible that this
Is a source of that dagger?

Narrator: according
To the amarna tablets,

The pharaoh of egypt
Received iron daggers

From people with close links
To the iron smelting site

Discovered in jordan.

If we could identify one
Of these daggers

Sent by the king of mitanni
To tutankhamun's grandfather

As being the one
Found on his mummy,

That would be wonderful.

But there's no real means

Of being able
To join the dots here.

Narrator: on the face of it,

The coincidence
Of the amarna letters

With the iron smelting site
Looks compelling,

But when archaeologists
Investigate further,

They realize the dates
Don't match.

Tuttle: it's a very
Disputed site.

The dating is very,
Very disputed.

Narrator: though archaeologists

Still debate
The exact start date,

The site at tell el-hemmeh

May have started production
Too late for tutankhamun.

This dates to,
Probably, about 1000 b.C.,

Which makes it 300 years or so
After tutankhamun.

Narrator: but some experts claim
The mainstream egyptian timeline

Could be off by
As much as 300 years,

Which would put tutankhamun
Back in the frame.

Yet there is another,
More significant obstacle

To the idea
The dagger was forged

By egypt's advanced neighbors.

Chemical analysis of its iron
Yields shocking results.

This particular dagger
Doesn't rust,

And that's
What makes it special.

The quality of the iron
Is fantastic.

It's pure, almost.

Made in a kind of technology

That would happen
Only centuries later,

When people became
Experts at creating iron.

Narrator: the blade is so pure
That in over 3,000 years,

It hasn't rusted at all.

No one in the world is capable
Of producing that kind of metal,

In pre-modern times.

Narrator: the people
Of tell el-hemmeh

May have been good metalworkers,

But no one on earth
Was capable of making

Such high quality iron
Back then.

All the clues lead to
The same remarkable conclusion.

This iron wasn't mined by man.

So there's a high content
Of nickel and traces of cobalt,

Which indicates,
In all likelihood,

That this metal
Is not from earth.

Narrator: the discovery leaves
Only one possible conclusion.

This iron came from the sky.

The sky is hugely important
For egyptian mythology.

There are gods of the sky.

Any kind of things
Coming from the sky

Would be seen
As potentially gifts

Or some kind of offering
Of the gods.

Narrator: ancient hieroglyphs
Throw further light

On these deities.

When you look at some
Early religious texts,

It talks about the bones
Of the gods being made of iron.

Not only that,
But the term for iron was

"Bi-a-n-pt," which means
"Iron from the skies."

Narrator: the ancient egyptians

Believed that iron
Came from the heavens.

While the dagger may not have
Been delivered by a god,

Modern satellite images
Have shed light

On how it could
Have gotten here.

There are a lot of scientists
Who scan satellite imagery

For interesting features
On earth's surface.

Well, a really interesting
Feature was found

In egypt in about 2008.

Van gijseghem: a mineralogist
Found on satellite imagery

A perfectly preserved crater

Surrounded by more than 1,000
Kilograms of meteoric iron.

It's very possible
That a clever blacksmith

Recognized the metallic
Qualities of this stone

And decided to experiment,

And discovered that, in fact,
He could hammer it into a blade.

Narrator: when archaeologists
Investigate the site,

They analyze fragments
From the ground.

So we can reconstruct the
Compositional characteristics

Of the meteorite,

And the bad news is
That it's not a match.

So it's very unlikely
That the dagger was

Crafted out
Of that specific metal.

Narrator: this particular
Meteorite is not

The source of the dagger,

But the search continues.

We are clear that it
Is meteoric iron,

So that's absolutely certain.

Now the question is,

Can we find
A specific site, perhaps,

Where this dagger
May have come from?

Narrator: the site might
One day still be found,

But the impossible dagger's

Mysterious maker
Remains unknown.

Tutankhamun's dagger has been
A mystery for some time,

And it's likely
To remain that way.

Narrator: an israeli satellite
Spots suspicious containers

On an island
In the south china sea.

Moran: if this
Actually is weaponry,

Then the whole game
Could be about to change.

Narrator: tension mounts
As the u.S. And chinese navies

Face off across
The disputed waters.

I regard the south china sea
As the most dangerous flashpoint

In the 21st century.

Narrator: february 14, 2016 --

The commercial eros-b
Satellite passes over

Chinese-occupied woody island

In the troubled waters
Off the south china sea.

When defense analysts compare

The new satellite image
Of the island

With another taken
2 weeks earlier,

They spot something disturbing.

In this image,
The beach is clear.

Two weeks later,
The beach is full of equipment.

We have to ask ourselves,
"What is this stuff?"

What's going on here?

Narrator: defense experts fear
The mystery objects on the beach

Could be advanced weaponry.

The u.S. And china's neighbors

Are deeply concerned
That woody island

Could be the beginning
Of a chinese empire

In the south china sea.

Think of it as either
Stepping stones or lily pads.

They have the mainland
And they have,

Amongst many others,
Woody island.

And if you have a lily pad

From the mainland
To island to island,

You can then say,
"This whole area is ours.

You have to ask us

If you want to fly over it
Or sail through it."

Narrator: any weaponry
Deployed on this island

Would be able to strike
Deep into one of the world's

Busiest shipping lanes,

Holding the world's
Economy for ransom.

Nearly 5 trillion dollars
In cargo and natural resources

Pass through
The china sea every year.

Marshall: they intend
To absolutely dominate it.

China wants an economic empire.
It wants to safeguard it.

And part of safeguarding
An economic empire

Is to make sure
That you control sea lanes.

In september 2015,

President xi of china
Visits the white house

And tells president obama
The chinese are not

Militarizing
The south china sea.

But analysis of the satellite
Image tells a different story.

I noticed that when we looked
At these trucks over here,

We see apparent symmetry.

There's two trucks
And then a smaller one.

Two trucks, then a smaller one.

This, to me, says "Okay,
Those three trucks go together."

When I did a search,
And I looked for imagery,

I came up with this image.

Look!

Two trucks,
And one in the center.

This is a command and control
Radar-type truck,

And these trucks
Are linked by wires.

These are the chinese
Hq-9 launchers.

This is an anti-ship capability,
Range of hundreds of miles,

And can sink
A majority of the ships

That move through that area.

Narrator: the hq-9
Missile system

Doesn't only blow ships
Out of the water.

It also shoots aircraft
Out of the sky.

It turns out our
Worst fears are realized.

This equipment contains
Surface-to-air missile systems,

And this is bad news.

Narrator: china
Denies accusations

Of militarizing the area.

Carter: china claims
That the installation

Of this surface-to-air
Missile system

Is just for their self-defense.

China is the most
Dominant presence

In the area,
So you have to ask,

"Who are they defending
Themselves against?"

Narrator: marc d'antonio's
Search notices even more

Attack-ready military equipment
On woody island.

We can zoom in
On this image right here.

We find two shenyang jets.

Narrator: the satellite
Has spotted

Two state-of-the-art
Shenyang j-11 fighters.

Warren: this is
A multi-role fighter.

That gives the chinese
Yet another capability,

Another power projection
Capability out of woody island.

We've got a fully-operational
S.A.M missile site.

Now we've got
Chinese fighter jets

Stationed on woody island?

This is going
The wrong direction.

Narrator: there are
Worrying signs

That the situation
In the area

Is already getting
Out of control.

In response
To growing concerns,

The us navy deploys
A carrier group

To patrol the area.

The americans
Guarantee the seaways.

They guarantee to keep them
Open for world trade

And for their navy.

Narrator: in june 2016,

The carrier group receives

An uninvited chinese
Naval escort.

Warren:
It was certainly something
That raised our eyebrows,

As we saw the chinese move some
Legitimate military capability

Towards our vessels,
Conducting this very legitimate,

Very internationally-recognized
Freedom of navigation operation.

Marshall: what the chinese
Are doing is not saying

"Next time you do that,
We'll blow you out the water."

They're saying,
"In the long-term,

We will have
The ability to do that."

Narrator: if this image
Does show the beginning

Of a chinese empire
In the region,

It could be disastrous,

Not just for southeast asia,
But for the entire world.

You're seeing one of the biggest
Bullies in the world, china,

Is starting to be aggressive
Towards its smaller neighbors,

And the rest of the world
Superpowers have two choices --

Let them keep doing it,
Or push back.

And neither one
Of them sounds good.

Marshall: nobody wants war
In that part of the world.

But everybody is planning ahead
And building for that threat

Which, of course,
Is a dangerous trajectory.

Narrator: a satellite
Captures a bizarre image

Over the desolate
Australian outback.

Krueger: you see these
Perfectly round black circles

In the middle
Of the australian desert,

And your mind just boggles.

Pavelec: they can't be natural.

What sort of natural phenomenon
Creates perfect black circles?

The question is,
"How did they get there?"

Narrator:
The worldview-3 satellite
Passes high above

The australian outback.

It picks up a baffling pattern

Of black spots
In the desert sand.

They look like big black holes
In the middle of the desert.

These really stand out
From everything else.

They could be
Small bodies of water,

Like ponds or
Something like that?

Narrator: the image comes
From near the isolated opal

Mining colony of coober pedy,

On the edge of one of the most
Barren landscapes on earth,

The great victoria desert.

Krueger: this is right
In the middle

Of the driest desert
Of the driest state

In the driest continent
In the world.

Narrator: one theory
Is that these circles

Could be lakes or water holes
Dotting the desert.

Unlikely as it sounds,
Such lakes do exist

In other arid areas.

Satellite images of china's
Badain jaran desert reveal

More than 100
Black circular lakes.

But the australian outback

Is simply too hot
For surface water.

Krueger: you don't get water
Standing around here.

It evaporates in seconds.

Seems very unlikely they're
Due to some natural process.

The alternative is that
These are man-made.

But who put them there, and why?

Narrator: the obvious
First suspects

Are the local native tribes.

This area is home
To the antakirinja,

One of the many
Aboriginal tribes

Who live in
The inhospitable desert.

Anyone who has seen
Aboriginal art

Will recognize that circles
Play a very key role

To record history
And tell stories.

Narrator: perhaps these
Black dots in the desert

Are the remnants
Of aboriginal sand paintings.

But aboriginal sand paintings
Are patterns of lines and dots,

Not like the solid colors
That we see here.

Also, these black circles
Have been imaged several times

Since 2002,

And sand paintings typically
Last for a few days,

So something else
Must be going on here.

Narrator: geologist nick petford
Has seen dark circles

Like these before.

Petford: they remind me
Of things I've seen flying

Over the midwest
In the united states,

Actually, where you get
This crop irrigation.

And you can see
Areas of farmland,

Which are circular in shape.

It's a technique called
"Center pivot irrigation."

Water is distributed via a
Large, central sprinkler system.

Basically the arm
Goes around in a circle,

And this is why it looks
Perfectly regular in size.

Narrator: but for irrigation
To be the answer

To the mystery
Of the black dots,

There would have to be
A massive water supply

In one of the driest
Deserts on earth.

Strangely, there is.

Krueger:
The great artesian basin,

The world's largest
Underwater reserve,

Lies directly below
These dark circles.

This cannot be a coincidence.

Narrator: the basin stretches
For over 660,000 square miles,

And contains more water

Than all of the great
Lakes combined.

So these could be
Irrigation circles.

But scale analysis of the dots
Reveals a problem.

These black circles
Simply aren't big enough

To be organized
Desert agriculture.

Mousseau: they're just
Way too small.

They're about 60 feet across,

Whereas most plots are

On the order
Of 1,000 feet across.

Much, much larger.

Narrator: the black circles
In the desert look

Like scorch marks in the sand.

This sends investigators down
A darker, more violent path.

Krueger: there are
Other parts of the world

Where you see dark circles
In the desert.

In new mexico, they are scars
From atomic weapons testing.

Narrator: australia does not
Possess nuclear weapons.

But this area was used
As a test site

For britain's atomic program.

In the 1950s and 1960s,

The british tested
About 45 nuclear weapons.

A number of them were tested
In south australia

At a special site set aside
For weapons testing.

Narrator: during the height
Of the cold war,

Britain exploded seven
Atomic bombs at maralinga

In the australian outback.

Robershaw: if you
Test nuclear weapons,

Particularly if you
Put the weapon on a tower,

To simulate the way
It would go off in the air,

It's going to leave a circular
Scorch mark, blast mark.

Basically turn the desert
Into molten glass,

Which will then harden.
And it will be circular.

Therefore, it's possible
That we're looking at

A testing area
For nuclear weapons.

But maralinga is over
200 miles away from coober pedy.

And there's something else
That doesn't add up.

We know that there
Were seven bombs tested.

The site that
We're looking at here,

There are 18 circles.

It must, therefore,
Be something else.

I think the clue might be,
Actually,

In the number 18,
Rather than anything else.

Krueger: you don't
Have to be a numerologist

To know that the number 18
Is significant.

Narrator: very few people
Have been to coober pedy,

But the select few
Who know its secret come

For a very specific reason.

They come...To play golf.

The black circles
Are, in fact,

Part of one of the hottest
Golf courses in the world.

It was created in 1976,

When sports mad locals
Came up with the idea

To make grass-less greens.

Borrett: it is strange,

But when you're down
At ground level,

It all makes sense,

Because putting greens out here

Would be too expensive
For the amount of water

That we would need
To keep them looking nice.

Narrator: instead of grass,
The greens are made of sand,

Rolled with black motor
Oil to stop it

From blowing away
In windy weather.

You use a rake to rake
Where you're going to putt.

And just scrape the dirt back
So the next people

Have got a sort of
Even place to putt on.

Narrator:
During the summer months,
It gets even weirder.

It's too hot during the day,
So we come out at night

And use glow in the dark balls.

You can see them for two,
300 meters away.

They're good to play,
It's good fun,

And it's nice and cool at night.

It's a uniquely
Australian answer

To the question of golf
In the desert.

Why would you go through
All the trouble of pumping water

To make your greens green
When black sand will do?

I guess black is the new green.

Narrator: a network
Of satellites is on the hunt

For one of the world's
Most wanted men.

Green: he's one
Of the most feared

And reviled warlords
In central africa.

Driscoll: everybody would like
To capture this guy,

But every time they've
Come close, he disappears.

Narrator: now
Satellite surveillance

May finally have
Tracked him down.

Narrator: december 2012 --

The worldview-2 satellite

Photographs the thick jungles
Of central africa.

It captures an image
That promises to end

One of the longest
Manhunts in history.

To the untrained eye,
There's not very much to see.

There's a canopy of trees,
There's savannah,

But then as you zoom in closer,

You start to see some
Very intriguing signs.

What could be found was
Grass was burnt down,

So somebody was
Clearing out the area.

Huts were appearing
In the middle of nowhere.

Driscoll: all the buildings
Popped up overnight,

And it is obvious that
Someone just came in

And established camp.

Narrator: military analysts
Believe they've discovered

The base of one of the world's
Most elusive war criminals.

I'm fighting
For peace.

The infamous ugandan
Warlord joseph kony.

Joseph kony is the leader
Of the lord's resistance army,

Or l.R.A.

It's a very notorious
Armed group

That's terrorizing the civilian
Population in central africa.

It started out as
A spiritual movement,

And then turned very violent
When joseph kony took it over.

Narrator: kony seized control

Of the extreme
Christian rebel group

In the mid-1980s
To fight government repression

In northern uganda.

Green: the devastation unleashed
By joseph kony's rebellion

Is hard to comprehend.

He's massacred thousands
Of villagers,

Abducted many
Thousands more children

To press-gang them
Into rebel ranks.

Narrator: to enforce
His unique brand of terror,

Kony raises an army
Of indoctrinated child soldiers.

No one will ever really know
How many children kony has

Ordered abducted
In the past two decades,

But the number stands
At at least 30,000.

He's almost like a pied-piper-
Type character from a fairytale.

He marches into villages,
Takes children away at night

And yet, disappears
Like a puff of smoke.

Narrator: kony is so
Difficult to find

Because of the terrain
He operates in.

Originally restricted
To northern uganda,

Kony has now spread out

Into the uncharted forests
Of central africa.

An area almost
The size of texas.

With such an expanse
To cover,

It's physically impossible
To track him on the ground.

Green: you can be
Walking down a path,

Zigzagging through this forest,

And you've got no idea
What's around the next corner.

It's like a maze.

It's like a green,
Leafy labyrinth.

It's the perfect place
To wage a guerrilla campaign.

It's the fact that you can look

At this vast
Swathe of the map --

Congo, sudan,
Central african republic --

And have absolutely
No idea where he is.

Narrator: it's no easier
From the air.

Driscoll: very difficult
For any aerial surveillance

To be successful in this area
Because of the foliage.

The jungle is very dense.

Ronan: you can imagine
How difficult it is

To find a single person
In this vast expanse of green.

Narrator: kony's elusiveness
Forces his hunters

To adopt new techniques.

In 2012, human rights
Activist paul ronan

Is tipped off by locals
In southern sudan

That kony could be in the area.

In late 2012,
I talked to people who said

That they had been aware
Of where kony was,

And they actually drew me a map

Of where they thought
The l.R.A camp was.

Narrator: the map places
Kony in kafia kingi,

A disputed enclave
On the borders

Of sudan and south sudan.

It's a densely forested area.

Tracking kony by normal means
Is close to impossible.

So paul turns
To satellite image analysts

Via amnesty international
For help.

To narrow down the area
Really was a little bit

Like putting together
A puzzle, I would say.

Our suspicion was
To probably set up

Their hiding camp
Close to a river,

Because that's what you
Need to survive.

And eventually, we found what we
Believe was joseph kony's camp.

Over the next few weeks,
We used satellite imagery

To confirm that kony
Was actually there.

Narrator: in march 2013,

They were finally
Ready to strike.

Ugandan military set up
An operation to surround it.

Unfortunately, kony
And his troops had left.

Narrator: rumors
On the ground suggest

Kony knew the attack was coming.

There was some suspicion
That the sudanese military

Had given him this information.

Narrator:
Sudan's military is believed

To be using kony
As a pawn in their wars

Against their bitter
Neighbors, south sudan.

This is one of
The most volatile,

Unstable regions on earth.

And someone like kony,

With his band
Of very disciplined,

Very committed
Ruthless fighters,

Is a very useful asset
To have on that chess board.

Narrator: but many believe
The day will come,

When just like saddam hussein,

Kony's luck will run out.

Once his usefulness
To his protectors is over,

There will be nowhere
For him to hide

From the eyes in the sky.

I think kony will be
Captured one day.

He cannot escape forever,

And my sincere hope is that
He will have his day in court,

Because that's the only way
To bring justice

To the many survivors
And victims of his reign.

Narrator: a satellite monitoring
The most remote region

Of our planet captures
A bizarre feature in the ice.

It is a very unusual
Looking feature, this.

Porges: it looks like
A fortress encased in ice,

The kind of thing superman
Might hang out in.

I've never seen anything
Like this before.

Narrator: january 2012 --

The geoeye-1
Satellite photographs

A strange oval formation
In a wilderness of ice.

It almost looks like superman's
Fortress of solitude.

The way it just kind of
Sits in the ice and snow.

It looks like maybe
A kind of round fortress

With some rooms, even.

It has some kinds
Of symmetry to it

That you wouldn't expect
To see in nature.

Narrator: analysis
Of the image measures

The concentric ovals
At 400 feet wide.

Archaeologist mark altaweel
Takes a closer look.

The kind of thing that,

When you see it almost
Anywhere in the world,

You say immediately it
Definitely is man-made.

The rings of the structure
Look like the walls

Of some sort of compound,

Like something
That's been designed!

Altaweel: we're in the middle
Of the antarctic,

So what in the world
Is that doing there?

Narrator: the image comes
From one of the most remote,

Untouched regions on earth --

The vast, frozen deserts
Of east antarctica.

This is in the middle
Of nowhere!

One of the most inhospitable
Terrains on the planet.

It's the coldest, driest,
Windiest place on earth.

It's thousands of miles
From any other civilization.

If this is some sort
Of man-made compound,

The question is, "What is it,
And what was it used for?"

Narrator: a possible lead comes
From the feature's shape.

At first glance,
It resembles designs

Of known polar research bases.

Because of the wind
In antarctica,

One of the common
Types of structures

Is sort of a dome,
Or a circular facility

That allows snow
To move around it.

Narrator: the amundsen-scott
Research station

At the south pole was built
Under a giant dome

To stop encroaching snow
From burying the buildings.

There are a handful
Of examples in antarctica

Of bases that have been
Abandoned over time.

Some of them have been
Consumed by ice.

It does look like it could be,
In some way,

Related to an abandoned base.

Narrator: but there's a problem
With this theory.

Bamber: we know where
Every base has been,

And we know that there
Wasn't one there.

There's always a possibility
That it's a secret site

That we don't know about,
And it's not on the record.

Narrator: research scientists

Have little reason
To conceal their bases.

But some people might want

To hide their activities
From prying eyes.

Underneath the ice
And snow in antarctica

Is an unbelievable wealth
Of minerals and metals.

And things that people
Would go to unbelievable lengths

To get their hands on.

There's already been quite a bit

Of mineral development
In the arctic.

We see companies and countries

Scrambling to claim
The mineral deposits

That they think might be there.

It's conceivable
That this could happen

In the antarctic, as well.

Narrator: mines and oil rigs
In the arctic

Are often surrounded
By protective outer walls

Similar to the concentric rings

Seen in the satellite image.

But in antarctica, mineral
And oil exploitation is banned.

An international treaty forbids
Any sort of drilling

For things like
Oil in antarctica.

But it doesn't mean people
Haven't tried to maybe

Do it a little bit on the sly,
A little bit secretly.

During the energy crisis
Of the 1970s,

There were rumors that some
Countries considered drilling

For antarctica's
Vast oil reserves.

Perhaps someone is secretly
Chasing black gold.

A not impossible that
Some nation could attempt

To go in and set up
Some sort of base there,

But it's an incredibly
Difficult place to operate.

Narrator: the image lacks
The telltale signs

Of such a complex facility.

I don't believe this image
Represents mining activity.

If it were abandoned,

You'd still see evidence
Of infrastructure,

Of buildings or an air strip.

We don't see any of that.
We just see one circular object.

Narrator: investigators
Consider a possible

Natural explanation
For the phenomenon.

Could it be
A bizarre ice formation

Caused by powerful
Antarctic winds?

Bamber: they're called
Katabatic winds,

And they can form these
Features called sastrugi.

The equivalent of dunes
Over snow.

Narrator: sastrugi are sharp,

Wave-like ridges
In the snow's surface

That run parallel
To the direction of the wind.

They can form
Highly-unusual shapes,

But rarely those visible
In the image.

Brunt: we are probably not
Looking at sastrugi

In this image because
The feature here is circular

And not long and linear

Like the general pattern
Of sastrugi.

Narrator: there's another
Force of nature

Caused by ice melt in antarctica

That might explain
The shape of this feature.

Miller: if it was
A natural process

That explained this feature,

My first clue would be
Those dark splotches.

Bamber: I would say the
Dark patches are surface melt.

That surface melt,
It tends to pond and form

What are called
Superglacial lakes.

Narrator: the surface
Of these lakes can re-freeze,

Leaving a pool of liquid
Water under the ice.

Miller: if that pond drains out,

It will leave a void
Underneath the ice,

Which could then
Collapse inward.

And the structure
That you see here,

You can almost imagine
A circular pond

That has collapsed inward
And created these cracks

As the ice could collapse in.

Kinda just a punch effect.

Narrator: collapsing ice
Could conceivably create

Similar shapes
On a thinly covered pond.

But in antarctica,

The ice sheets
Can be incredibly thick.

Three and a half miles of ice
Covers most of antarctica.

Narrator: ice sheets miles deep
Are unlikely to collapse.

Brunt: we can learn a lot
From satellite imagery,

But without actually
Going there,

We're not gonna be able
To figure out

Exactly what this depression is.

Porges: we don't know what
This structure is

And we might never know.

Antarctica is really good
At keeping its secrets.

Narrator: there is no
Expedition planned

To investigate
This mysterious feature.

Until someone sets foot
On this barren patch of ice,

Its true nature
Will remain unknown.