All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S05E09.1080p.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
That defy explanation.

[ static, beeping ]

A prehistoric ghost
And a chamber of sacrifice.

This is amazing.

Something has grown
Out of the ground.

It's like entering
The center of the earth.

Narrator: the machine that can
See back in time.

It's one of the greatest marvels
Of our time.

Narrator:
And china steals a mega weapon.

That is serious bad news
For the rest of the world.

**

Narrator:
Baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

**

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

**

July 2018.

Ireland is experiencing
A rare heat wave.

Sanford: it was
A record-breaking drought.

Temperatures reached 90 degrees

In a country
Where it's usually only 65.

Narrator:
The emerald isle turns brown.

And in a field
In the east of the country,

A strange pattern
Materializes in the earth.

**

Hunt:
This is amazing.

Something has emerged, almost as
If it's grown out of the ground.

It's a gigantic circle,
About 500 feet across.

Narrator: whatever this is,
One thing is clear --

It's not natural.

What's really striking here

Is the utter perfection
Of the geometry.

This circle is perfect.

Narrator: the location
Of the spectral circle

Intrigues archaeologists.

It sits in the boyne valley,

The capital
Of prehistoric ireland.

There are ancient structures
From about 4,500 years ago

Littering the landscape.

These make mayan structures
Look like modern history.

**

Narrator: according to legend,
These lands were once inhabited

By a supernatural race
Called the tuath dé danann.

Built more than 3,000 years

Before the rise
Of the roman empire,

The exact origin and purpose
Of many of the structures here

Are a mystery.

Investigators hope
That the pattern in the image

Could help reveal
The secrets of this land

Of legend and folklore.

There's not a lot known
About the origins of ireland,

And this could really
Lend new understanding

To the ancient cultures
That occupied this area.

**

Narrator:
Archaeologist mark horton

Is traveling
To the weird pattern

In the aerial images
To try to decode it.

Hopefully, by actually
Seeing the landscape

In which it's sitting,

We can begin to understand
What it is

And what its significance is.

Narrator: horton journeys
Deep into county meath,

Once the seat
Of the high kings of ireland,

Historic and legendary figures
Who ruled in ancient times.

It's above of the most
Famous site in ireland,

And yet, such an important
New discovery

Could be made
Just literally a few yards away.

**

Narrator:
According to gps data,

The symbol should be
In this field.

Yet horton can find
No trace of it.

**

We saw the parch marks so
Clearly on that air photograph,

But now it's just a plowed field

With just a bit of winter wheat
Coming up.

So, nothing to see
On the surface.

**

Narrator: horton hopes
Composite aerial images

Will reveal the strange pattern.

But they only confirm his fears.

Horton: the crops obviously
Aren't that well-developed.

We can see the grass
On both sides,

But there's no sign there
At all.

**

So frustrating.

**

Narrator:
The drought is over,

And the land has reclaimed
The ghostly circle as its own.

Yet horton believes
This may in fact offer a clue

To the origin
Of the circle in the image.

I'm surrounded by landscape full
Of enormous stone monuments,

And I wonder whether
The solution is that

This was made of wood.

Narrator:
If horton is right,

A colossal, 300,000-square-foot
Wooden structure

Once stood here.

When it rotted,
It left nutrients in the soil,

Which create differences
In plant growth

Visible from the skies
During times of severe drought.

Because all we have
Is the perimeter of the circle,

We have no idea
What was above it.

Could it have also been roofed?

We don't know.

Narrator:
Whatever once stood here,

Horton wants to know
What it looked like,

Who built it, and why.

He thinks there may be
An extraordinary clue nearby --

A mysterious structure
Which dates back 5,000 years

But is known by
Its medieval name -- newgrange.

Newgrange is perhaps the premier
Neolithic site in the world.

Paul:
Newgrange is an incredible site

Not just because of the size,
But because of the age.

This site actually predates
The famous stonehenge.

It's older than
The great pyramids of egypt.

Narrator:
According to historical texts,

This is the house
Of a god known as the dagda,

And the lands around it
Were once covered by a sea.

**

He uses his mace
To banish the waters,

Which take the monster mata
With them.

**

The dagda's house remains --
250 feet wide,

Comprising 200,000 tons
Of earth and rock.

It's made of stone
Which is not local.

It was quarried and brought
A great distance

To be constructed here.

Sanford: it's mind-blowing
That neolithic people

Had construction techniques

That would allow them
To do something like this.

Narrator: as horton
Explores the perimeter,

He sees the telltale signs
Of prehistoric magic.

Horton: I've seen these kind of
Prehistoric spirals before,

And they may be associated
With shamans

Who go into
Altered states of consciousness.

They become drugged,
And this is what they see

Through their eyes
In that state.

What it suggests is that

This was
A spiritually significant site.

Narrator: like the structure
Captured from the skies,

This temple
Is vast and circular.

**

Horton decides to venture inside
For clues.

It's extraordinary.

**

Narrator: the tunnel stretches
Deep into the heart

Of this prehistoric
Man-made mountain.

Horton: I can feel this kind of
Extraordinary sensation,

Heading down
This narrow passage,

Squeezing between
The ancient stones.

**

Narrator: the passageway leads
To a large central chamber.

Horton:
It's kind of like

Entering
The center of the earth.

It's a miracle
Of stone-age engineering.

Narrator: archaeologists
Excavating the site

Find a mixture of animal
And human remains.

**

Horton:
The bodies were left exposed,

And then what was left of
The bodies were brought in here.

So this is actually like the
House of the ancestral spirits.

You're bringing the ancestors
In here,

And their spirits
Are living here

In this extraordinary chamber.

**

Narrator: archaeologists
Speculate this chamber

In the house
Of the chieftain god

Was used to conduct sacrifice.

Analysts consider
If the ghostly circle

Was also once soaked
With the blood of the ancients.

If sacrifices took place
At newgrange,

Could the massive structure
In this aerial image

Also have a dark history?

**

Narrator: coming up --
Time travel in the desert.

Major: we're able to see
Farther back in time

Than ever before possible.

Narrator: and cracking the code
Of the ancients.

Janulis: they would bring
The skulls of their ancestors

In the hope that this would
Protect them from demons

During this night.

[ static ]

[ static ]

**

Narrator: following a heat wave
In ireland,

The outline of a massive
Prehistoric structure

Emerges from the earth.

Archaeologist mark horton
Wonders

Whether this ancient tomb holds
Clues to its origin and purpose.

A passageway leads
To a 5,000-year-old

Burial chamber at its center.

**

Horton reveals it has
Astronomical significance.

Horton:
So, what I think is that the sun

Just rises above
That hill over there

And the rays come through,
Shine down through the passage,

And illuminate
The chamber beyond.

Narrator: horton calculates
That this only happens

On one day of the year.

Horton: so, the alignment
Is the winter solstice.

That's around december the 21st
Every year.

That means
That you could predict,

Every year
On the winter solstice,

The rising sun would come
Exactly at that point

In the horizon and strike
The middle of that chamber.

That is astonishing.

Narrator:
For prehistoric people,

There was no division
Between science and magic,

Between worshiping the stars
And using them to mark time.

Sanford: the winter solstice
Wasn't just a celebration.

If you didn't notice
The winter solstice correctly,

You might not prepare correctly

For the rest
Of the winter to come.

It could mean famine and death
For the people.

Narrator: the footprint of the
Structure seen from the skies

Appears to have had
A passageway,

Perhaps leading to an altar,
As does newgrange.

Horton considers if this
Is a long-lost sister site,

And if so, what might have been
Its purpose.

So, what I'm thinking
Is that this monument, a tomb,

Is associated with death
And ancestral spirits and stone,

Whereas our monument
Down the bottom there

Is associated
With the living, with wood.

So we have the two
Paired together,

The dying and the living.

**

Narrator: horton wonders if
Its orientation is important.

Maybe it has its own significant
Alignment that we can discover.

Unfortunately,
It's actually very difficult,

From photographs,
To work out exactly where it is

In this huge field.

Narrator:
Using georeferencing software

And gps data
From the aerial photos,

Horton maps the structure's
Precise position.

You can see the circle,
And a dot marks where we are.

So, in order to actually stand
On where the monument is,

We just need to follow
The blue dot to the circle.

**

Narrator: horton can now
Plot the outline

Of the invisible
Ancient monument.

**

Horton:
It's kind of weird.

There I am, laying this out
With plastic sports cones

Directly on the top

Of what the neolithic farmers
Did 5,500 years ago.

**

That's pretty good.

**

Narrator: for horton,

The size and position
Of the square structure

Suggest it was the focal point
Of the giant circle.

Horton: there are two more posts
Which form a narrow entranceway,

Almost a sighting slit,

Which then forms
A perfect alignment

Looking all the way
Down through the middle

And ending up on the top
Of the hill just over there.

So, having established
That this is the alignment,

The question remains --
What is it?

Narrator: using historical
Astronomical data,

Horton calculates
Which day sunrise lined up

With the giant entranceway
In neolithic times.

What he finds is shocking.

120 degrees.

Amazing!

It's actually
The 31st of october,

Which in modern times
Is halloween

But was actually a really
Important celtic festival.

**

Narrator: the colossal structure
Appears to be connected

With the celtic samhain --

The feast of the dead,
The origins of our halloween.

According to legend,
On this night,

Children were sacrificed
To a supernatural race

Known as the fomorians,
Bringers of death and chaos.

One of the traditions
For samhain night

Was to have a big bonfire,

And so the spiritual world
Mingled with the real world.

They would appeal to the spirits
For help

In surviving
The dark winter to come.

Narrator:
People invite their ancestors

To join the feast of the dead

And perform rituals
To rid the lands of demons.

They would bring the skulls
Of their ancestors

And put them in a circle
Around the bonfire,

In the hope that this would
Protect them from demons

During this night.

**

Narrator: horton's investigation
Has revealed that 3,000 years

Before the birth of christ,
A mighty structure stood here...

**

...Hewn from the primordial
Forests of ireland,

Built by the pagan tribes
That once inhabited them,

And constructed so precisely
That on one day every year,

It is lit up by our nearest star
To welcome the dead

And protect the living.

We think about ancient people
As being

So much less sophisticated
Than we are in the modern day.

But the reality is,
If you think about it,

The effort to build
Something massive like this

When everything to do
With survival

Was so backbreakingly hard
Is just gobsmacking.

Narrator: the ghost of
This structure has been consumed

Once more
By these mythical lands.

Horton wonders what
Other secrets they may hide.

This landscape is one of
The most studied

Of all prehistoric ireland,

And yet there's so much more
To be learnt.

**

Narrator: coming up --
The time-traveling machine.

We found out that
These black holes can be

20 times the size
Of our own sun.

Narrator: and something
Bewitching near salem.

Does this site have something
To do with witchcraft?

**

[ static ]

Narrator:
May 28, 2017 --

A u.S. Geological survey camera
Passing over washington state

Spots a strange structure
In the desert.

You can see from this image that
We're in the middle of nowhere,

And then there's two straight
Lines in the shape of an "L."

Narrator: scale analysis shows
Each branch

Of this perplexing "L" shape
Is 2 1/2 miles long.

**

They're going straight
In one direction

And straight
In another direction,

And then they suddenly stop.

Narrator: investigators consider
Whether the exact

90-degree alignment
Of the structure

And its remote location
Offer a clue.

The middle of nowhere is perfect
For testing new technologies

And ideas that you want
To test in secret.

Narrator: one new technology
Which is set

To run through this region
Is called the hyperloop,

Developed by
The controversial elon musk.

Elon musk is
A really eccentric billionaire

Who uses his money to create
All these very bizarre,

Ambitious science experiments.

He is coming up with all sorts
Of new, crazy ideas,

But instead of keeping them
To himself,

He's actually trying them.

Narrator: following the sale of
Online payment system paypal,

Musk amasses
A $23 billion fortune.

His ambitious projects include
Developing a brain implant

To dramatically increase
Human intelligence.

**

And while his spacex venture
Plans to colonize mars...

**

...Hyperloop is an attempt
To revolutionize

The way we move around on earth.

The hyperloop would be
A transportation network

Connecting major cities
On the u.S. West coast.

They would use high-speed trains

That are traveling through
Tunnels, mostly underground.

**

Narrator: hyperloop is
A kind of super train.

Its 28-person pods
Run in a vacuum tube

Where air pressure
Is 1/1000 of that outside,

Dramatically reducing drag.

The system replaces wheels
And tracks with magnets

So that the 20-ton pods glide

Above a rail up to
760 miles per hour.

You know when you go to the bank

And you put your money
In those tubes

And then they get sucked up
To the bank teller super fast?

Well, think of that,
Except it's a train system.

Narrator:
In july 2017,

Engineers put
A prototype hyperloop

Through its paces
At a test center in nevada

Known as the devloop.

It's possible,
If not even likely,

That what we're seeing
In this image

Is some kind of other test track
For a hyperloop technology.

Narrator:
Yet for some investigators,

This seems the wrong shape

And not long enough
For a hyperloop.

Nasa scientist pascal lee
Has seen

An l-shaped structure
Like this before.

This, to me, screams
"Particle physics research"

Looking at the universe
In two different dimensions,

Because of the two branches
Of the "L."

So, maybe what we're looking at

Is one of
The ligo observatories,

A laser interferometry
Gravity-wave observatory.

**

Narrator:
Ligo's mission is to unlock

Some of the greatest mysteries
Of the universe...

**

...Why black holes form,
Why stars explode,

And how the universe
Was created.

It works by observing
So-called gravity waves --

Ripples in space-time.

One of the holy grails
In physics, of course,

Is trying to measure
And understand gravity waves.

The best analogy is
The surface of a pond.

Dump a rock into the pond,

And the disturbance
Ripples outwards.

Narrator: the scientists here
Face a massive challenge.

Since the universe was created,

Its gravitational echoes
Have traveled

Hundreds of trillions of miles
At the speed of light

And are incredibly hard
To observe.

It's detecting a strand of hair
At the distance

Of our nearest star,
Alpha centauri,

Which is 4 1/2 light-years away.

It's like trying to hear
Somebody whisper

All the way across
A busy nightclub.

Narrator:
Ligo sends a laser beam

Down the two massive arms
Visible in the image.

If a gravitational wave
Hits earth,

It disrupts these beams and
The ligo detector picks this up.

What you are going to want
To measure is a difference

In timing of the arrival
Of the wave

In two different directions.

That is why you would set up
A gravity-wave detector

In the shape of an "L."

And that will allow you
To detect the gravity wave,

And better than that, even,

Give you a sense
Of where it's coming from.

Narrator:
The physics is mind-bending,

But what scientists are trying
To do is extraordinary.

If creation is the act of god,

Then ligo is seeking
To rewind time

To understand
How his creation works.

With ligo, we're able to learn
Things about the universe

Never before thought possible.

For example, we found out
That these black holes can be

20 times the size
Of our own sun.

**

Major: ligo can pick up
Gravitational waves

Which are being created
By objects

Before even the first stars
Came around.

Narrator:
The secret of creation

Is the most awesome mystery
Of the universe.

This strange facility,
Observable from space,

Is entering a realm
Where religion and science meet.

Major: we're able to see
Farther back in time

Than ever before possible.

There is a potential to actually
Detect gravitational waves

From the big bang.

Lee: and so,
It's a remarkable device.

It's one of the greatest marvels
Of our time.

**

Narrator: coming up --
The terrifying sun gun.

It could start fires anywhere
On the planet without detection.

Narrator: and murder and sorcery
In the snow.

People were killed just for
Rumors of practicing witchcraft.

[ static ]

[ static ]

Narrator:
February 23, 2011 --

As the geoeye-1 satellite
Passes over new brunswick,

Southeastern canada,
It spots a star shape.

Looks to me like a flower
Imprinted in the snow.

But clearly,
It's much too big for that.

Merritt:
It's obvious that this isn't

Just carved out into the snow.

It's something
That's underneath the snow.

Narrator:
For some investigators,

The location of the weird
Outline is intriguing.

The pentagram is the classic
Symbol of witchcraft.

**

Paul: this area
Is over the u.S. Border

From salem, massachusetts,

Which is famously known
For the salem witch trials.

Narrator:
In colonial massachusetts

At the end of the 17th century,

Officials accuse over 200 people
In salem

Of practicing sorcery --
Among them, eight children.

Just imagine the terror
And the horror

That would've come with
Being accused of witchcraft.

You're done for.

[ indistinct shouting ]

Narrator: 13 women
Are found to be witches,

Six men of being sorcerers.

They are all hanged.

A suspect who refuses
To cooperate

Is slowly killed over three days

By having heavy stones
Placed on his chest,

A torture known as "Pressing."

At this time, people were killed

Just for rumors
Of practicing witchcraft.

**

Narrator:
A number of the accused flee,

Some suspect
Across the canadian border

To the spot captured
In the satellite image.

Bellinger:
Looking at this satellite image

And knowing the history
Of witchcraft in the area,

Could this be
Some kind of ritual site

That was used by witches
In the past?

**

Narrator: when investigators
Closely analyze the perimeter

Of the mystery star,
They find another clue --

One that suggests
A defensive purpose.

One of the things that's obvious
Is that

This isn't just a structure,

But there are actually
Ditches dug around it.

Pavelec:
Looking at it more closely,

It looks a lot like the shape
Of a medieval fortress.

Narrator:
Military historians confirm

That the structure's location
Is key.

This area was of
Strategic importance

To european colonists.

It sits on a strip of land

Separating new brunswick
And nova scotia,

A key point on an important
Trade route in the 18th century.

Pavelec: for both the french
And the british,

This is the gateway to
North america, to the new world.

It's along
The saint lawrence seaway,

The major riverine passage
Into the interior of canada

And upper united states
From europe, from the atlantic.

Narrator: rich europeans want
Fur caught by canadian trappers.

The valuable pelts
Are transported

From the remote
Canadian wilderness

Along the saint lawrence river.

The vast potential of
The natural resources of canada

Was a magnet
To both the french colonizers,

The british colonizers,

And made this place
Vitally strategic.

Narrator:
In the mid 18th century,

France controls new brunswick.

Britain governs nova scotia.

Historian keri leigh merritt
Believes

The snow-covered structure is
A fort which played a key role

In their bitter
And bloody conflict.

Merritt:
Records reveal that this fort

Was actually fort beauséjour,

Which was created
By the french in 1751

In order to protect themselves
Against the british.

Narrator: the british have
Their own fort --

Fort lawrence,
Just two miles away.

But the star shape
Of fort beauséjour,

Known as a bastion fort,
Gives the french the advantage.

The star shape is effective
Because the pointed bastions

Mean that they can attack
In multiple directions

And they don't have blind spots
Around the fort.

Narrator:
Nevertheless, on june 3, 1755,

2,000 british troops
Mount a ferocious assault

On the french fort.

The british besiege and
Relentlessly bombard the fort.

Starving, wounded, surrounded
By corpses and human filth,

160 french colonists
Are trapped in the fort.

Can you imagine
Being in this fort

When you're actually
Under siege?

The screams, the smells,
The horror.

There's nowhere to go,
Nowhere to hide.

What is your hope?

Either that more french
Defenders will come to your aid

Or that the british besiegers
Will be merciful.

Narrator: the british blockade
Of a nearby port

Prevents french reinforcements
From rescuing their comrades.

On june 16th,
The french surrender,

And britain
Subsequently gains control

Of the saint lawrence river,

Its trade,
And its vast natural resources.

By seizing control of this
French fort, as well as others,

The british have, in effect,
Taken a monopoly

On this part of the world

And the resources that are
Coming in and going out of it.

Narrator: beauséjour becomes
A crucial staging post

For britain's eventual
Military domination of canada.

Today, it endures
As a haunting reminder

Of north america's
Bloody colonial era.

**

Coming up -- burning pirates
Alive in the high seas.

Pavelec: the sailors poured
Flaming oil over the side,

On the pirates that are trying
To get on the ship.

Narrator: and the smersh sci-fi
Super weapon.

This is like
A bond villain plan,

Like a giant magnifying glass
In the sky.

[ static ]

[ static ]

Narrator:
March 6, 2012 --

As the worldview-2 satellite
Crosses the south china sea,

It captures something glowing
In the water.

This image is really unsettling
Because what you see on one side

Is what looks to be a ship
That is on fire.

Narrator: it seems that some
Form of intense heat or light

Has overwhelmed the satellite's
Imaging instruments.

The saturated area is where
The light is too bright

For the sensor.

Narrator: image analyst marc
D'antonio takes a closer look.

If this is a ship on fire,
It's no ordinary fire.

There's something
On the side here

That seems to be coming out.

This could be the ship
Firing some kind of rockets.

Or it could be the ship
Being attacked by something,

And this is an explosion
Coming out.

**

Narrator: an exploding ship
Would be disturbing enough,

But for military analysts,
Its location makes it doubly so.

It sits above
The macclesfield bank,

A submerged coral atoll
400 miles

Due south of hong kong
In the south china sea.

Noting that this ship
Is in the south china sea

And appears to be under attack,

That has
Some serious repercussions

In that part of the world.

Narrator: the south china sea
Is a flash point

For potentially catastrophic
Military conflict.

Several powers
Are competing with china

To control these waters.

U.S. Military
And the intelligence community

Really believe
That the south china sea

Could be
The number-one flash point

That triggers world war iii.

**

Narrator:
Over the last few years,

China has claimed several reefs
And atolls,

Built and expanded islands,

And established
Several military bases.

Pavelec: they're there to say,
"These are ours,

And we're going to defend them
If we want to."

Narrator:
The u.S. Has responded

By increasing its naval presence
In the area.

Albertson:
There could be as many

As seven new military bases,
And in some analysts' minds,

This is putting us on
A collision course with china.

Narrator: reports from the area
Provide clues

To the apparent explosion
In the image.

Moran: intelligence reports
Suggest that several yj-12s

Have been installed,
And this is essentially

A supersonic anti-ship
Cruise missile.

Narrator:
In june 2018,

Chinese hackers steal over
600 gigabytes of data

From u.S. Navy computers,

Including plans
For a new submarine-based

Anti-ship missile
Code-named "Sea dragon."

It's said to be
A long-range anti-ship missile

That will give u.S. Submarines

A huge advantage
Over enemy vessels,

And now it could be
In the hands of the chinese.

**

Narrator: the sea dragon program
Is classified,

But it's rumored the new missile
Flies at 2,500 miles per hour

And can take out
The world's largest warships.

**

If the chinese military
Has created

Its own version
Of the sea dragon,

Then that is serious bad news
For the rest of the world.

Narrator:
But to some,

The missile theory
Doesn't add up.

D'antonio: I'm not sure
That it's actually

A live weapons test
That we're seeing.

If this is a weapons test,
We would expect to see a trail.

Narrator: there may be
An alternative explanation

For the image.

So, after further investigation,
In february 2018,

There was an actual
Pirate attack on a cargo ship

In that part of the world.

Narrator: a third of the world's
Marine commerce

Passes through
Southeast asia seas --

120,000 big ships each year,
Laden with valuables.

Rich pickings for some.

Between 1995 and 2013,

Almost half
Of the world's pirate attacks

Occurred in this region.

Moran: trillions of dollars'
Worth of goods

Pass through the area annually.

These are some of the most
Heavily pirated waters

In the world.

Bad guys in boats,
And they're absolutely ruthless

In taking over ships,
Killing people, stealing cargo.

They're experienced,

And they know
What they're looking for.

Narrator: in february 2018,
Local sailors report an incident

That might provide a clue
To the image.

Moran:
A cargo ship is under attack.

Heavily armed pirates
Are approaching,

And a petrified captain fires
Five flares into the air.

Narrator:
When help doesn't come,

The crew takes action,

And their tactics
Are old-school.

So, when the pirates
Began to board the ship,

The sailors poured oil
Over the side,

On the pirates that are
Trying to get on the ship.

Narrator:
Is this a ship under attack?

Are pirates being burned alive?

The chinese probably are not
Very likely to tell us

If there's pirate attacks,

So if this is one,
They're not talking.

**

Narrator: coming up,
Another inexplicable inferno --

This time, in the arctic.

How could we have
Such a massive fire

In such a frozen environment?

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Narrator:
July 31, 2017 --

A nasa satellite over greenland
Captures a troubling image.

**

It's a beautiful green space,
And then this plume

Of steam or smoke
Right in the middle of it.

It's hard to tell
The exact size,

But this looks like
A blazing inferno.

**

Narrator: around 80% of
Greenland is permanently covered

By what scientists call
The inland ice --

A massive ice sheet
Containing 8%

Of all the freshwater on earth.

Much of the rest,
Such as the area in the image,

Is tundra.

Kourounis: it looks green,
But it's permafrost.

There's no trees.
There's no wood.

There's very little fuel
Here to combust.

The question is, how could we
Have such a massive fire

In such a frozen environment?

Narrator: around 90% of
Wildfires are caused by people.

But analysis of
The surrounding area

Shows no sign of habitation.

Whenever you see a fire
In a wilderness area

That's pretty much uninhabited,

The first thing
That comes to mind

Is that it was caused
By a lightning strike.

Narrator: lightning strikes
Somewhere on earth

100 times each second.

A single bolt can be
Five times hotter

Than the surface of the sun.

So, if the permafrost
Was thawing out

And lightning struck,
It's possible

That some of this vegetation
Caught on fire.

Narrator:
But weather records suggest

This is not what's happening.

The fires were first spotted
On july 31st.

We can't find any evidence
Of thunderstorms

Happening in that area
Using radar

Or using
Lightning-detection software,

So it's not likely that
A thunderstorm is to blame here.

Narrator: historical images
Yield another clue.

In early images,
You can actually see --

It looks as though
The fire starts all by itself.

Narrator: technology expert
Mike capps turns to news reports

And finds an incredible
But possible explanation.

Back in the early '90s,

The russians
Launched the znamya satellite,

Which had reflective mirrors

That would focus light
Down on the earth.

**

Narrator:
During winter,

Russians living
Above the arctic circle

Can go as long as 40 days
Without sunlight

And endure temperatures as low
As minus 98 degrees fahrenheit.

In the late 1980s,

Soviet scientists
Announce a bizarre plan

To help those suffering

Through these months
Of freezing darkness.

It was this crazy experiment

To see if there was a way
To kind of harvest the light

And shine it back in,
Hoping to capture sunlight

And let you work all night long
For mother russia.

Narrator:
The plan comes

Straight out
Of science fiction --

A 65-foot-wide space mirror

Angled to deflect the sun's rays
Back down to earth.

This is like
A bond villain plan.

"We're gonna build
A giant mirror in space,

And we'll use it to direct,

Like a giant
Magnifying glass in the sky."

Narrator:
On february 4, 1993,

The russians
Launch the znamya satellite,

Carrying
The experimental payload.

As night falls,
They deploy the mirror,

Firing a focused beam
Of sunlight back to earth.

This gargantuan bat signal
Passed across the atlantic,

Over europe, and into russia.

**

Narrator: reports later emerge
That the russian space agency

Is developing a new version
Of the infamous space mirror.

**

Some intelligence experts

Believe it has
A more sinister purpose,

One that could explain
The mysterious satellite image.

Every 5-year-old knows
If you take a magnifying glass

And you focus the light
Of the sun just right,

That you can start
A fire with that.

Narrator: the russians
Would not be the first

To attempt to weaponize the sun.

In 212 bc, legend has it
That famous greek inventor

And mathematician archimedes
Used a series of giant mirrors

To set fire
To an invading roman fleet.

**

If the russians are actually
Developing a weaponized

Space-mirror platform,
Then they could start fires

Anywhere on the planet
Without detection.

Cerveny: in the wrong hands,
If you were to build

This kind of technology,
You could do a lot of damage.

Narrator: however, detailed
Study of the image suggests

This is not the origin
Of the arctic inferno.

Kourounis:
If this fire was caused

By some
Orbiting russian space mirror

Focusing its energy
On greenland,

Well, we'd expect to see
A scorch mark across the land,

But there's nothing like that
In the image.

Narrator: geological records
Provide another clue.

When we do detailed analysis,
We find out that actually,

The region is comprised of peat.

Narrator: peat is
Partially decayed plants,

Compressed over
Thousands of years.

Although 90% water,

It is carbon-rich
And highly flammable --

And, in certain conditions,
Can self-ignite.

Peat fires can actually burn
Underground undetected for years

Before they actually
Reach the surface.

Narrator: investigators believe
That following

A spontaneous, unexplained fire,

A blaze eats through the peat,
Consuming thousands of acres.

When you burn peat,
You get a concentrated heat

That lasts for a long time.

Narrator: studies indicate
That these fires

Are becoming more frequent.

No one has discovered
Exactly why they start

Or how to stop them.

The problem with
This kind of peat burning

Is that it's almost impossible
To put it out,

So this fire could rage
For years into the future.

**