Original subtitles

Narrator: They're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new, Mysterious phenomena

That defy explanation.

[ beeping, distorted music ]

Ghosts, cannibals, and a mystery Sunken fleet in maryland.

French: look how many are Out there.

Wow.

What in the hell Happened here?

Narrator: the weird image That nasa can't explain.

Nelson: this is really bizarre.

You would not expect these To be here.

Narrator: And close to area 51...

Chamberlain: it looks like there Are spacecraft.

It looks like they're from "Star wars."

Narrator: baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

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

[ beeping ] [ camera shutter clicking ]

[ whirring ]

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

**

March 1, 2007,

Satellites in orbit Over the potomac river

On the maryland/virginia border.

Visible in the water -- A series of strange shapes.

This is intriguing.

We've got what appears To be this fleet of ship hulks.

Man: it's almost like A ghost fleet,

And they're kind of sunk Into the muck of the river.

Throughout history, There have been stories

Of these "Ghost ships," Which are essentially ships

That appear out of the mist With their crew nowhere in site.

Narrator: the potomac river Ghost fleet

Lies off the chesapeake bay.

These waters were once The hunting ground

Of the english pirate Known as blackbeard.

Morgan: blackbeard Was killed in 1718,

And the governor Ordered him to be beheaded

And that his head Be placed on a spike

As a word of warning To future would-be pirates.

And because of that, Legend now has it

That blackbeard's headless Ghost haunts the area.

**

Narrator: determined to find out The real story,

An archaeologist From penn state university --

Kirk french -- journeys To the site

Of the satellite image.

French: it's pretty haunting.

Why would there be so many Of these ships

That are sunken in the potomac Or small bay?

What were they for?

How'd they get there?

Narrator: the chesapeake Bay area formed part

Of the 13 original colonies

And was one of the first in the United states to be settled.

French believes that there May be a connection

Between this colonial past And the ghost fleet.

French: just the simple fact That it's within this region,

It could tie into --

Into that important part Of american history.

Narrator: the wrecks sit up The coast from jamestown,

The first permanent english Settlement in north america

Established on may 14, 1607.

It occupied a strategic point On the coastline,

And this is sort of where a lot Of the classic colonial stories

And history was made.

That's great. That's great.

Narrator: On his way to the ghost fleet,

French receives word of a recent Archeological find at jamestown.

They have a current dig Going on down at jamestown,

So I'm gonna head down there And check it out.

Narrator: french travels To the site

Where he meets With archeologist david givens.

They try to establish A possible connection

Between the settler's ships And those in the image.

French: what do you know About the ships

That these early settlers Came over on?

They're actually Privateering ships.

We call them pirates today.

They're english merchants,

And so there's A lot of colonials

On these english ships.

Everybody you read about In the history books,

The john smiths, The bartholomew gosnalds,

Things like that.

That's the story,

And they all are On those ships.

Narrator: the early colonization Of america

Was marked By horrific violence and death.

The settlers battle against Native american tribes,

Each other, and the elements.

In 1609, the people of jamestown Face a brutal winter,

And within months, The population goes from 500

To just 60.

Faced with starvation, They turn on each other.

Givens: That starving time winter,

That's when the colonists Had to resort to cannibalism.

There are six primary Accounts of colonists

Eating both each other, The english,

And then some indigenous People they dug up.

In one of the settler's Primitive huts,

Archeologists have discovered The skeleton of a young woman.

Analysis reveals that this Body has been dismembered,

Not by a killer, But by a chef.

This was somebody who didn't Know what they were doing,

And they were very furtive, So the cutting was very --

Really just gruesome.

It was clear that this woman Had been processed to be eaten.

Even the brain was removed And consumed.

You've got to imagine a scenario Where you are so hungry

And it is winter,

And you do not know If you're gonna make it through.

The only way you're going To survive

Is by eating the body Of your partner, your friend.

Narrator: during this so-called Starving time,

Powhatan tribe warriors Lay siege to the jamestown fort.

Experts speculate that The wrecks in the image

Were casualties of this winter Of terror and violence.

Janulis: it's possible that what We're seeing

Is a sort of graveyard Of a mass attack gone wrong.

The native americans would use Their canoes

Loaded with warriors Either killing

Or capturing whatever Europeans that they found.

Narrator: but scale analysis of The settlers' ships cast doubt

On the idea that the ghost Fleet dates from colonial times.

These are an artist's Representation

Of the first three ships, And this is godspeed.

And you can see that They're just really small.

Yeah, well, those are totally Different than the ones

I'm seeing On the satellite image.

Yeah, the profiles Of these would be

Sort of horseshoe shaped

And then come down and Sort of drop into the center.

What you might see from modern Ships is maybe more elongated,

More -- the ribs of the ships Might be much flatter.

Narrator: if these aren't Colonial ships,

What are they?

French wants to get on the water And inspect the wrecks up close.

What he sees stuns him.

French: Look how many are out there.

Wow.

What in the hell Happened here?

**

Narrator: coming up...

Terror rising from the ice.

You can imagine the inuit Viewing these horns

Coming up out of the ice To be some sort of a monster.

Narrator: and kirk french Tries to decode the wrecks

Found in the potomac.

It looks like there's three Separate ships

That were all scorched.

Though any boat would literally Be blasted out of the water.

**

Narrator: archeologist Kirk french has journeyed

To a remote stretch Of the potomac river

To investigate this image.

He's discovered the satellite

Has captured a fleet Of wrecked ships.

Wow. Okay, getting --

Coming up on one now.

Looks like one, anyway.

There's pieces of metal Sticking up as well,

Not just wood.

Narrator: the presence of metal Provides a clue

To the fleet's age.

I mean, we're talking about Civil war,

Which I guess is a possibility.

You know, they had a firm grasp Of metal use,

But they also had A lot of wooden ships.

Narrator: the war at sea is A side of the civil war

That is often forgotten.

And the wrecks in the image Border an area

Known for its intense battles

Between the union And the confederates.

I mean, this area of the potomac Essentially

Was a border Between the north and the south.

I mean, virginia's just right Over there across the river.

Narrator: in 1861, the union Government blockades

Confederate ports.

Hundreds of ships patrol 3,500 miles of coastline,

Preventing supplies getting in Or out of the southern states.

The aim -- to starve The south into submission.

The union strategy was basically To choke

The confederacy economically And logistically.

And this was actually called The anaconda plan,

Like a snake Wrapping around the economy.

Narrator: the south badly needs Food and weapons.

To get them, They will have to break

The union's naval blockade.

Janulis: one of the solutions The confederates came up with

Were blockade runners.

Small, light ships that would Go out

Under the darkness of night

And evade detection By the union.

Narrator: confederate Blockade runner ships

That are caught in union waters Are captured or destroyed.

Any boat that would try to leave The area that was quarantined

Would literally be blasted Out of the water.

It would be destroyed By the bombarding ships.

Narrator: french finds signs That suggest

These ships Were destroyed by fire.

French: yeah, that definitely Looks like burnt.

That's burnt, isn't it?

So it looks like there's three Separate ships

That were all scorched.

Narrator: the scorchmarks Are telling.

These could be some of The notorious

Confederate fire ships used to Disrupt the union blockade.

You'd send a ship that was On fire or several ships

That were on fire Toward another fleet

In order to burn them.

Narrator: confederate Blockade runners used fire ships

To destroy union ships,

Allowing their own supplies To get through.

French probes the wrecks With an underwater camera.

**

French: that's got tons and tons Of these heavy pins in it,

Which to me would resemble What you would have in --

On an engine mount Or something like that.

And why would you have an engine Mount for a wooden ship?

Narrator: the wooden hulls Suggest that these ships date

From the civil war period Or earlier,

Yet the engine mounts hint At vessels from a later era.

French: obviously, There's something weird here.

You've got different materials

That are all being used At the same time.

It seems like a quick fix For something.

If I had to place a bet on it, I would just say

That it had to be After the civil war.

Narrator: french heads back To the shore

In search of some local Historical knowledge.

French: okay, well, That was super lucky.

Just found out about a local guy Lives in this area

That knows a lot About these ships,

So I want to go talk To this guy.

I think he's really gonna Be able to shed some light

On what happened there.

Narrator: french travels to meet Arthur willets...

-hello. -hey, arthur.

Narrator: ...Who has lived On these shores for 90 years

And remembers stories And events,

Which were never Set down on paper.

The wrecks, he claims,

Are the relics of a mammoth Shipbuilding program

Undertaken when america Joins world war I in 1917.

Willets: the program started In april,

And they was gonna build A whole lot of them.

During world war I, The british fleet,

Like the union During the civil war,

Blockades german-occupied Europe,

But it takes a battering from German u-boats in the atlantic.

As war wages in france,

The allies desperately Need new supply ships.

President woodrow wilson Responds

By ordering the greatest Ship-building program

In the country's history.

The idea was to build 800 to 1,000.

Morgan: basically every shipyard In the united states

Stopped what they were doing To focus

On constructing This merchant fleet

That will keep the war Material flowing to europe.

Narrator: to build 1,000 ships Will take

A massive amount of steel,

But the steel industry Doesn't have the capacity.

The solution -- Build them the old way.

Altaweel: Boats were being built,

And they have to be built Very rapidly,

So instead of using steel,

Boats were actually Built out of wood.

Narrator: yet, not one vessel Manages to reach europe

Before the war Comes to an end.

America finds itself with A fleet of 134 wooden ships.

After the war ends, The ships were obsolete.

And even when they built Some of them,

They were obsolete.

Morgan: the navy doesn't Want them

Because they're made of wood.

The navy wants ships That are made of steel.

And the result is that The government has these ships

And doesn't know What to do with them.

Narrator: storing the ships Costs the american taxpayer

$50,000 a month,

So the government sells The brand new ships for salvage.

Janulis: so the western marine Salvage company

Takes all these ships

And moves them To a private plot of land

Adjacent to a harbor That they have purchased.

Well, they were towed Into james river,

And then they were towed To mallows bay.

Narrator: in 1925, The ships are burned.

A decade later, arthur willets

And other mallows bay Residents --

Jobless and desperate During the great depression --

Try to remove metal fittings To sell for scrap.

That sounds dangerous.

Yes, it was dangerous.

To get the metal, They used dynamite, pick ax.

Dynamite? Yeah.

Back in the '30s, you could Go to the grocery store

And get a stick Of dynamite.

The work is backbreaking, And the returns are meager,

But under roosevelt's new deal America, men are desperate.

You had to do a lot Of scrap metal

To make some kind of money.

I would say scrap metal Was selling a dollar

Or two for 100 pound.

The ghosts that haunt These wrecks

Are not those of blackbeard And his pirates,

But of the families who lived Through the grinding poverty

Of the great depression, And the young americans

Who died fighting far From home in a foreign war.

This is an amazing secret --

Lesser known story of america's Role in the first world war.

**

Narrator: coming up...

Things get weird In rural ireland.

Typically the celts captured Someone to sacrifice them.

Narrator: and explorers go In search of an icy lost world.

These arctic explorers Are completely mad.

**

Narrator: april 14, 2018,

Nasa scientists are carrying out An aerial survey in the arctic.

Below they capture Three large holes in the ice.

Holes unlike anything They've seen before.

Unlike anything known to exist In the arctic.

It almost is like someone came Along with this giant tea kettle

And poured boiling hot water Into the surface.

This is really bizarre.

You would not expect These to be here.

Narrator: the nasa team believes The holes are too irregular

To have been created By humans.

Scientists consider possible Natural explanations.

Cerveny: When the ice gets covered,

We still have Underneath open water.

And that open water has currents That are flowing through.

Different areas are going To be slightly warmer.

Warm water rises.

And when it hits the top Of the ice, if it's warm enough,

It could actually start To melt a circular opening.

Narrator: what puzzles experts Is that these holes

Are the wrong size.

Ellis: if there's warm water Coming from below,

The effects would be more broad.

We're seeing three very specific

Almost puncture wounds To the ice.

I think we need to look Elsewhere.

Narrator: a possible clue To the mystery

Comes from reports From the late 19th century

When a stranded whaler, John keenan,

Claimed to have found An unknown landmass

Hidden beneath the arctic ice.

Surprisingly little was actually Known about the arctic.

It was known that it was covered By an ice sheet,

But some people believed that it Was rather like antarctica

Or the hidden continent

Underneath the ice Known as keenan land.

Narrator: In 1906, ejnar mikkelsen And ernest de koven leffingwell

Set sail for the arctic

To search for keenan's Fabled land beneath the ice.

In january 1907, Their ship begins to leak,

And the explorers are forced To abandon her.

These arctic explorers Are completely mad.

They've got their basic clothes, They've got their equipment.

They have to take the ship apart

And they build themselves A permanent hut on the land.

They end up overwintering On an island

Off the north coast of alaska.

It must have been just Hellish conditions.

Narrator: when spring arrives, The teams set forth again

In search of keenan land.

You would think they would Give up at this point,

But they don't.

They continued to walk, Drilling holes every so often

Deep into the ice To see if they could find land.

Could these holes in the ice That we see today

Be remnants of that expedition,

Misshapen by the constant Shifting, melting,

And refreezing sea ice Over so many years?

If holes drilled into the ice Lasted more than a century,

We would be seeing These all over the arctic.

I don't think This could be possible.

I don't think they would be Around since 1906.

Narrator: the expedition failed To confirm the reports

Of a lost world Beneath the ice,

Yet there is certainly a world Of sorts --

A water world.

This area might look Uninhabitable,

But below the sea ice,

It's actually teeming with life, Including marine mammals.

When you have an icy area,

They have to keep A part of that exposed

So they can come up and breathe.

Narrator: the oral histories Of the local inuit tribes

Tell of a terrifying creature Inhabiting this water world --

Pa'ri yook.

They say he may rise From the depths of the sea

And smash kayaks, Dragging them to the depths

With his long Serpent-like tongue.

Narrator: marine biologist Rob nelson considers

If another creature shrouded In inuit myths

And legends could have Caused the holes --

The narwhal.

Narwhals are the most bizarre Animals you've ever seen.

Nobody would probably Believe you

If you drew A picture of a narwhal and said,

"This animal actually exists."

Rice: you can imagine The inuit viewing these horns

Coming up out of the ice To be some sort of a monster.

Nelson: narwhal comes from The old norse "Nar",

Which means corpse-like,

Which alludes to the color Of the narwhal's skin.

Corpse-like in the same way that A dead sailor is dead and gray.

Narrator: the narwhal's horn Is a huge tooth.

Over the course Of a whale's life,

It can grow up To 10 feet in length

And is packed With 10,000 nerve endings.

The latest research suggests

That this is A giant sensory organ,

Which the whales use to search For prey and mate.

The vikings had this practice Of catching them,

Cutting off their horn,

And selling it, claiming that It was actually from a unicorn.

Narrator: narwhals can hold Their breath for 25 minutes,

An hour less than a sperm whale

And need regular access To holes in the ice to breathe.

The idea that a narwhal Could cause these holes fits

With the satellite image

Because you can see The round circles of slush

Around the holes As if an animal had burst up

Allowing water To spray around the hole.

Narrator: biologist Stephanie schuttler studies

The ice thickness in the image.

She doubts the holes could have Been caused by a narwhal

Or any other animal.

Given that the ice is so thick In so many areas,

It seems pretty far fetched that A single animal could do this.

Narrator: there is still no Convincing explanation

For the existence Of these holes.

**

Coming up...

Seen from the skies, Dr. Love's wonder drug.

Schuttler: The demand is skyrocketing.

It's almost like the whole Population is getting high.

Narrator: and unspeakable acts For ancient gods.

They literally Burned people alive.

**

Narrator: january 5, 2018,

A satellite Over northern ireland

Captures this image.

Bellinger: at first glance, This looks kind of like

A typical landscape,

Except right in the middle, Your eye is just drawn,

As if magnetically, To this circular complex.

It's like nothing else In the area.

Walters: I can't really imagine What it could be.

You've suddenly got something Which looks

Positively otherworldly.

It's completely baffling.

Narrator: military historian Martin morgan scans the image.

He considers if the shapes Are a relic from world war ii.

Morgan: I spend a great deal of Time on european battlefields.

These look to me like They might be craters.

You can look at craters From explosions

From the american civil war,

And they're still Visibly discernible,

And so it's not unsurprising That craters

From a mere 75 years ago Can still be seen.

Narrator: in september of 1940, German luftwaffer bombers

Filled the skies Over the united kingdom.

The nazis pummeled key Industrial targets,

Including shipyards in belfast, Northern ireland.

Hitler hopes to cripple The allied war machine

And force The british to surrender.

Belfast and the surrounding area That constituted

Northern ireland is a part Of the united kingdom.

That was fair game.

Walters: belfast is a big port,

And it's also a place Where a lot of ships get built.

Let's not forget this is The birthplace of the titanic.

Herman goring, In charge of luftwaffe,

Looks at belfast And says to his bombers,

"Flatten it."

Narrator: According to informants,

During this So-called belfast blitz,

The luftwaffer Receives assistance

From irish terrorist groups.

Walters: there are a lot of Rumors that members

Of the I.R.A., The irish republican army,

Were bitter foes of britain

Actually lit beacons To help the luftwaffer bombers

Navigate their way to belfast.

Now, this has never been proven,

But it's quite likely To be true.

Narrator: Yet the site in the image

Is over 30 miles away from belfast.

Further image analysis reveals The circles

Aren't depressions after all.

Paul: this satellite image shows That this circle

Actually appears to be a mound.

The fact that there's a circle Within the circle

Indicates that there's more Significance to this site.

Narrator: karen bellinger spots Something unusual

Inside one of the mounds -- A ditch.

For bellinger, this suggests The formation has its origins

In ireland's ancient past.

These mounds have Very clear ditches

On their interior perimeter.

Defensive ditches are always Outside of a mound.

This, to me, is a very Clear example

Of neolithic earthen Work henges.

Narrator: henges Are stone age monuments.

Their origin and purpose Remain a mystery.

Around 2,000 years after It was built,

It's likely that this henge was Used by celtic pagan savages.

Celtic tribes were in constant Conflict with each other.

Typically before battle,

They would have their priest Perform ceremonies

To get the tribe ready For the conflict ahead.

Narrator: Celtic druins are known

To have indulged In ritual bloodletting.

Archeologist mark altaweel Speculates

That before battle, humans, Including young men and girls,

Were killed here to pacify And please pagan gods.

Typically the celts captured Someone to sacrifice them.

They would perform these rituals On these mounds,

Places that were elevated,

In a way, bringing them Closer to their gods.

Narrator: for all their use Of extreme violence,

The romans considered Human sacrifice barbaric

And julius caesar comments on The savagery of celtic druins.

He tells us in his writings About the gaelic wars

That the druids would build An enormous human effigy.

An actual large statue Of a man made of wicker,

Almost as if he were a cage Would be constructed

To hold hundreds Of individuals.

Bellinger: druids would Throw in animals

And people and set them alight.

They literally burned People alive.

Narrator: when archeologists Excavate the center of the site

Captured by satellite,

They discover Something baffling.

One of the most bizarre finds That archeologists

Have found within This circular enclosure

Is the skull of a primate Known as a barbary ape.

Narrator: barbary apes come from North africa's atlas mountains.

What is an ape doing in ireland?

It's a very curious Kind of discovery.

Narrator: ancient irish Mythological texts suggest

That the structure May hold yet more secrets.

The texts name the site As the headquarters

Of the red branch knights, One of the royal courts

Of legendary celtic kings Of ireland

And the seat Of the king himself.

The image that we're looking at May be showing us

One of the most important Pre-christian

Communities in ireland.

This might be the seat of this Ulster kingdom

That was once located here.

Narrator: a place of ritual Pagan bloodletting

Or the remains Of one of the thrones

Of the legendary kings Of ireland.

This ancient monument continues To guard its secrets well.

**

Coming up...

China prepares To colonize space.

Today's space race isn't about Who can land on the moon first.

It's about who can live On the moon first.

Narrator: and the force is Strong in the mohave.

Chamberlain: you've got two Millennium falcons

Sitting here In the middle of the desert.

**

Narrator: october 2013,

Satellites Over the mohave desert

Capture an image of strange Structures in the sand.

I honestly have no idea What I'm looking at.

It almost looks like the surface Of another planet.

Chamberlain: it looks like They're spacecraft.

It looks like They're from "Star wars."

You've got two Millennium falcons

Sitting here In the middle of the desert.

Narrator: the mohave desert Covers 50,000 square miles

Of southern california, Nevada, arizona, and utah.

They are in the middle Of nowhere, desertville.

The more you zoom out From the image,

The more you can see, This is completely isolated.

Narrator: the mohave's Vast interior makes it

The perfect location

For covert, Often illegal activities.

Any kind of desert area, There's not a lot of people

And therefore, Not a lot of law enforcement,

So you basically have free reign To do what you want.

Narrator: in 1969, serial killer Charles manson is on the run

And hides out at a remote ranch In this desert.

Those interested In the paranormal,

Secret military activity, Religious cults,

You name it, The mohave has seen it.

Narrator: journalist Carlo munoz wonders

Whether another of the mohave's Clandestine residents

Could explain The mystery image.

So I've come across an image That features a dome-like

Structure That's kind of similar

To what we've seen In the original image.

It was built by a guy Named george van tassel.

He was one of these individuals That in the '50s

Was really drawn to the desert.

Narrator: van tassel meditates In the desert

Beneath giant rock,

The largest free-standing Boulder in the world.

By this so-called channeling,

He attempts to contact Extraterrestrial beings.

Munoz: he really thought that These crystallized rocks

Would allow him to communicate With other forms of life

Outside of our own galaxy.

Narrator: van tassel claims to Have met an extraterrestrial

Who provides him with blueprints For a bizarre building.

Van tassel claims to have Received instructions

On how to build this structure Known as the integratron.

Looking at these images, At first glance,

They bear a resemblance To van tassel's design.

Narrator: the 35-foot high Dome-shaped

Building features A core of copper wire.

Van tassel claims That it can harness

Untapped natural energy From the atmosphere

To rejuvenate human bodies And extend their life.

Nowadays, van tassel Would probably be looked

At as kind of a kook, But in the 1950s,

We're seeing the advent Of sci-fi

In movies and literature.

So there was a real appetite Amongst americans

For this kind of thinking, This kind of approach.

Narrator: however, image analyst Marc d'antonio

Believes the satellite image Is an optical illusion.

If we move this around,

We see that there's actually A building over here

And it's casting a shadow In this direction.

That means the light is coming From the bottom of the screen.

So if the sun's coming from This direction,

This side, if it was a mound,

It would be brightly lit, But it's not.

It's actually dark.

So these are actually Two depressions in the sand.

Narrator: d'antonio scours The surrounding terrain

For more clues To the origin

Of the weirdly Shaped depressions.

If we look south In these objects,

We can see that There are these dots.

Well, what are these dots?

We zoom in, we see that They're actually tanks.

There are actually a lot Of things around there --

Boats, even the wire frame Of a plane.

I'm pretty positive now That we're looking at

Some sort of military site.

Narrator: U.S. Military records confirm

That the formations lie In an area

Partly controlled By edwards air force base.

Edwards has been at The forefront

Of military testing And development

Since world war ii and has Control of the controversial,

Highly classified Base area 51.

This is where altitude And speed tests are broken,

Where all kinds of new Stealth aircraft are tested.

I wonder if what We're looking at here

Is something to do with some Sort of secret weapons testing.

Narrator: an image taken Six months later

Reveals something strange.

The features now appear To be filled with water.

Ex-cia operative Lindsay moran has a theory.

We may have stumbled Upon a site

That's capable for both Underwater and aerial testing.

Something that You might use for say,

A drone hybrid that can Transition from air to sea.

Narrator: when analysts contact The base,

A spokesperson claims That the mystery pools

Are designed to test Advanced missile technology.

Without independent Verification,

These structures and this image Remain a mystery.

The only thing That's clear to me

At this point Is that the u.S. Military

Is up to something Much more secretive

Than meets the eye.

Narrator: coming up...

Secret chinese experiments On the dark side of the moon.

It makes sense that if the Chinese are testing something,

They might want to keep covered Up and away from prying eyes.

**

Narrator: september 25, 2017,

Satellite images taken over A mountain in northeastern china

Reveal a series Of brightly colored patches

Splashed across the landscape.

I don't know what's going on In this place,

But those images are so blue.

It's just so, so blue.

It's very striking. What could it be?

Narrator: image analyst Marc d'antonio

Scans the mystery structures.

Looking at this photo, This is a fertile area.

You can see very deep greens.

And then you see These areas of blue,

Which in my estimation Are tarps

Of some type Covering growing plants.

Narrator: biologist Stephanie schuttler suggests

That the coverings hint

At an experimental Farming project.

It almost looks like A futuristic farm.

It makes sense that if the Chinese are testing something,

They might want to keep covered Up and away from prying eyes.

Narrator: digging deeper, Schuttler discovers

Something extraordinary.

The chinese are working On a project

Straight out of science fiction.

They're going to put a farm On the moon.

Schuttler: remember matt damon In "The martian"?

Well, swap mars for the moon, And you get the picture

Of what's going to happen In the future.

Major: today's space race Isn't about

Who can land on the moon first.

Today's space race is about Who can live on the moon first.

Narrator: the key to The survival of a moon colony

Is self-sustainability.

To succeed, scientists must Solve the problem

Of a lunar surface

Entirely composed Of barren rock and dust.

Major: a lot of that surface Material has been eradiated

By the sun And by cosmic radiation

For literally billions of years.

It's as sterile as it comes.

Turning that into something That can generate life

Is very, very difficult.

Narrator: the chinese solution Is ingenious.

They're creating mini-ecosystems In a can.

How it's going to work is by Sending tins full of potatoes,

Mustard flowers, And silkworms.

The silkworms will give off Carbon dioxide

And the potatoes And mustard flower

Will consume The carbon dioxide

And give off oxygen creating This cyclical ecosystem.

Suddenly you have A mini-biosphere

Functioning all on its own.

Narrator: the chinese are using Their chang of four mission

To send one of these mini farms To a test site on the moon.

The race to colonize The moon has begun.

Capps: if this image is sort of The seeds of that lunar village,

It's a little bit frightening To think

That they're that far ahead.

But it's also a bit historic, A bit awe-inspiring.

Narrator: however, biologist Rob nelson isn't convinced

That the remote Mountain location

Is a suitable lunar test site.

I don't think this is A laboratory

For moon experiments, It's just too out in the open.

To really control for The habitat of the moon,

You'd have to do it inside.

Narrator: haley chamberlain Searches for other crops

That require shade And altitude to thrive.

Chamberlain: it's going to a lot Of trouble

To grow something high In the mountains like this

That needs a big shade cover.

So the only thing that would Really make it economically

Feasible in this area Would be growing ginseng.

Narrator: ginseng is the root Of a plant

Belonging to the ivy family.

Growing it is difficult And expensive.

A single acre costs Over $200,000 to cultivate.

But the payoff is worth it.

Nelson: ginseng is thought To have many medicinal uses

Including getting Your mojo going.

Narrator: in 2013, the chinese Government relaxes

Its controversial One-child policy.

Amorous couples turned To ginseng to help

Make up for lost time.

Schuttler: The demand is skyrocketing.

With china's population growth,

It's almost like The whole population

Is getting high on ginseng.

Narrator: chinese farmers Produce thousands of tons

Of ginseng every year.

But experts in the art Of the horizontal tango

Believe the best stuff Comes from america.

Nelson: the chinese love American-grown ginseng.

I mean, the taste, the flavor, The potency.

Narrator: Originally commissioned By george washington

As a cash crop to fund The revolutionary war,

Wisconsin farms now Export millions of dollars

Worth of ginseng to china.

American ginseng Is actually touted

As something that's Really highly sought after.

It's much more expensive Per pound than chinese ginseng.

Narrator: one pound of ginseng Grown in the u.S.

Can cost $1,500.

This has led to a thriving Black market

In fake american ginseng.

The chinese ginseng is cheaper, So sometimes people will produce

That and stick the american Ginseng label on it

And sell it for much more.

Narrator: chamberlain wonders If the site

In the satellite image Is a part of the thriving trade

In this contraband aphrodisiac.

Because you can make So much money

With "American ginseng farms"

Or whatever you're labeling Your farm as,

They're cropping up All over china.

So could this be What we're seeing?

Maybe this is an american Ginseng farm in china.

Narrator: fake or real, For china's lovebirds,

The only thing that matters Is whether it works.