its coming from hell

There are around 3000 human-made satellites in working order around the Earth, however if the debris of old and damaged satellites are taken into account the number increases dramatically. Ever since the Soviet Union launched the very first artificial satellite into orbit in 1957, various countries around the world have sought to compete and satellites today are used for communication, navigation and exploration. Satellites are often visible passing overhead as the sunlight reflects back towards the Earth. One of them is impossible to miss, the largest satellite currently in orbit, the International Space Station, at a huge 100m across. However, these satellites are relatively unexciting in comparison to the mystery surrounding one very old dark satelliteLegend has it that in orbit around the Earth is a mysterious, dark object which dates back perhaps 13 000 years. Its origin and purpose are inscrutable, dubbed the “Black Knight” this elusive satellite has allegedly been beaming signals towards the Earth and inspected by NASA astronauts yet only a few on Earth officially know of its existence. The origin of the ominous name is part of the enigma; it is impossible to discover who first called it this or indeed why. Humans have only in the last 60 years had the technology to launch a man-made object into space so what is the logical explanation of tales of an alien intruder on our doorstep?

The first apparent part of this story begins with signals heard by Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) a brilliant Serbian inventor (and described by many thanks to his often eccentric behaviour and opinions as a genuine mad scientist) who spent most of his career in the USA. He was an electrical engineer and produced works which explored the idea of radio and wireless transmissions. In 1899, he reportedly intercepted a signal unlike any of the natural sources from Earth such as electrical storms that he had already investigated in his experiments. Instead he announced that regular signals must from an intelligent outside source, potentially inhabitants of Mars. Today there are those who say he was listening to a transmission from an orbiting satellite of unknown origin later called by some the Black Knight.

It is more likely, though still far from probable, that what was Tesla detected was not the Black Knight but instead signals which are emitted from natural objects. Today we know of natural extraterrestrial sources such as pulsars. These are fast-spinning neutron stars which emit a rhythmic signal. They were first discovered in 1967 by Northern Irish astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell-Burnell (1943-). Until certain of their origin, they were jokingly nicknamed the Little Green Men signals. Tesla was likely completely unaware of what he really detected (if indeed he picked up anything at all).In the 1920s anomalous signals were again detected by amateur radio operators. These were originally of Earthly origin, but their timing was bizarre! A signal would be received then a second repeated signal received a few seconds later. These Long Delayed Echoes (LDEs) were difficult to explain in terms or radio waves bouncing off atmospheric layers.  In 1973, Scotsman Duncan Lunan (1945-) went back to these signals to see if could make sense of them.  Miraculously by plotting the delay times against the order in which the echoes were received he could create what appeared to be star charts and diagrams. By deciphering them Lunan decided that the signals were actually messages transmitted by a probe originally from the star Epsilon Böotes (Izar) which had been lurking near the Moon for the past 13 000 years.  Lunan is not a professional astronomer but instead a science fiction author with a flair for outré ideas but nevertheless the name Black Knight is never mentioned by him; nor has he personally linked his Epsilon Böotes hypothesis with the Black Knight, others seem to be responsible for this. (UPDATE: Mr Lunan has stated his position on the Black Knight story in the Comments section below.)

Another story dating back to the early 1950s claimed to refer to an apparition of the Black Knight reports the detection of a signal of by an object in orbit. This was a time of deep suspicions held by the two superpowers on either side of the Pacific.  Neither the Americans nor the Soviets had the ability to place an object into any kind of an orbit at that time. Yet the discovery of an Earth-orbiting satellite was reported in a couple of newspapers from the time, and the respected astronomer Clyde Tombaugh (discoverer of Pluto) is said to have been involved. However, the articles actually a couple of synopses of a book by the UFOlogical author Donald Keyhoe (1897-1988). I’m sure these promotional newspaper articles had been great for sales of the book!  A few years later, the Black Knight seemed have made another appearance when American newspapers reported in 1960 that there was an unusual object in polar orbit, by then both superpowers had satellites in equatorial orbit but polar orbit meant that the satellite could see every part of the Earth, yet neither country admitted owning it. This may seem strange but remember that this was a time of deep-rooted suspicion and espionage not just with each other but now seemingly with extra-terrestrials too.  Declassified information now released from that time suggested that object was a Corona spy satellite under disguise at the time of the US Discoverer research satellite programme.  The world was bracing itself for nuclear destruction, coming close to a nuclear war in the Cuban Missile Crisis just two years later, had this information been released at the time perhaps the Cold War would have indeed heated up.

Gordon Cooper, the youngest of all Mercury astronauts and the first man to sleep in space, sees UFOs? (image credit: NASA.)

For any story or conspiracy to have credibility it always helps to get someone high profile on board. In the case of the Black Knight, Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) is a prime example. Cooper announced seeing many UFOs throughout his career. So when it was claimed that he saw green lights belonging to the Black Knight on his Mercury flight with alleged ground control radar also picking up something inexplicable, it is often believed to be true. However Cooper produced transcripts saying that on the Mercury flight he never saw anything.  When you have admitted seeing UFOs once perhaps other details of when and where often become less significant.

Image from STS-88, shows missing trunnion covering on left hand-side. (Image Credit: NASA.)

The most recent and most cited “evidence” for a mystery satellite from beyond dates from 1998. The crew of Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour photographed an unusual object in low Earth orbit. These images are often labelled as the most definite proof of this satellite. However, on more careful analysis this strange structure seems more like a piece of space debris. In actual fact this black object is probably a thermal blanket that had become dislodged during an EVA. Mission STS-88 was the first American mission to begin construction of the International Space Station. The Russians had already placed the Zarya module in orbit so this mission was to connect Zarya to the American Unity module. The crew achieved all objectives of their mission including installing hand-rails and testing a safety device to prevent astronauts drifting into space should they become detached. However, there were a few hitches along the way. Initial alignment of the modules did not quite work so as the Shuttle’s robotic arm loosened its grip to try again, several items floated away including the thermal blanket covering, which is what the mysterious image captured in the photo appears to be.

None of this information supports claims of the Black Knight, the dark satellite, however, there really was a Black Knight rocket. It was a British rocket used to test the design of a re-entry vehicle for the Blue Streak missile between 1958 and 1965. This one is not quite as mysterious.

The Black Knight… The real one. 

So although claims of an ancient 13 000 year old satellite originally from the constellation of Böotes, has reportedly been spotted and photographed by NASA astronauts as it travels in polar orbit; in reality this is not the case.  Black Knight is a jumble of completely unrelated stories; reports of unusual science observations, authors promoting fringe ideas, classified spy satellites and people over-interpreting photos. These ingredients have chopped up, stirred together and stewed on the internet to one rambling and inconsistent dollop of myth. The Universe is big place, and astronomers are trying to find signs of other life, some have even  searched for alien probes near Earth; however the Black Knight satellite is not the answer and it never has be

Black Knight also known as the Black Knight satellite is an alleged object orbiting Earth in near-polar orbit that ufologists and fringe authors believe is approximately 13,000 years old and of extraterrestrial origin. However it is most probable that Black Knight is the result of a conflation of a number of unrelated stories.^[1]

Fringe authors claim that there is a connection between long delayed echos and reports that Nikola Tesla picked up a repeating radio signal in 1899 which he believed was coming from space. The satellite explanation originated in 1954 when newspapers including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the San Francisco Examiner ran stories attributed to retired naval aviation major and UFO researcher Donald Keyhoe saying that the US Air Force had reported that two satellites orbiting the Earth had been detected. At this time no man-made satellites had been launched.In February 1960 there was a further report that the US Navy had detected a dark, tumbling object in an orbit inclined at 79° from the equator with an orbital period of 104.5 minutes. Its orbit was also highly eccentric with an apogee of 1,728 km (1,074 mi) and a perigee of only 216 km (134 mi). At the time the Navy was tracking a fragment of casing from the Discoverer VIII satellite launch which had a very similar orbit. The dark object was later confirmed to be another part of this casing that had been presumed lost.

In 1973 the Scottish writer Duncan Lunan analyzed the data from the Norwegian radio researchers, coming to the conclusion that they produced a star chart pointing the way to Epsilon Boötis, a double star in the constellation of Boötes. Lunan's hypothesis was that these signals were being transmitted from a 12,600 year old object located at one of Earth's Lagrangian points. Lunan later found that his analysis had been based on flawed data and withdrew it, and at no time did he associate it with the unidentified orbiting object.

An object photographed in 1998 during the STS-88 mission has been widely claimed to be this "alien artifact". However, it is more probable that the photographs are of a thermal blanket that had been lost during an EVA. Alternatively, people analyzing these pictures have suggested that it could be the Pakal Spacecraft, a supposed Mayan spacecraft written about by controversial pseudoarchiological author Erich von Däniken.