504: 20 And Back - The Super Soldiers Defending the Kuiper Belt

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

Science, Life Sciences, Fiction, Society & Culture, Documentary, Science Fiction

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On April 7, 2016, the team running NASA’s New Horizons mission were waiting nervously. The spacecraft was about to enter the outermost reaches of our solar system.

They'd aimed toward Pluto. Which lives in a region of the solar system called the Kuiper Belt.

Just before arriving at the dwarf planet, the team noticed an object nearby. And it was acting very strange. This object, whatever it was, was spinning faster than everything else around it.

Too fast. Artificially fast. And the object reflected light in an odd way.

New Horizons changed course to do a fly by. They wanted a better look at this bizarre behavior.

But as the spacecraft approached the object, all communications went down. NASA wasn't able to see or hear anything.

The New Horizons spacecraft suddenly put itself into safe mode.

But nothing was broken.

Something or someone was blocking the signal.

Whoever it was did *not* want NASA to know they were here.

And that they’ve been watching us for a very. long. time.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, this is James Harkin and Anna Toshinsky, two writers of the TV show QI and
0:06.1	two-fourths of the hip-podcast no such thing as a fish.
0:09.5	We'd like to let you know that we've written a book.
0:11.9	It is called Everything to Play for.
0:14.0	The most interesting things there are to know about the world of sports, it's for you
0:18.3	whether you like sports or not.
0:20.2	Did you know that legendary Cricketer Gary Sobers scored his final century while drunk?
0:26.1	Or that games of lacrosse used to involve 100,000 players?
0:31.7	Learn that and so much more by getting everything to play for the QI Book of Sports available
0:36.3	in all bookshops and online right now.
0:41.5	On April 7th, 2016, the team running NASA's New Horizons mission were waiting nervously.
0:47.2	The spacecraft was about to enter the outermost reaches of our solar system.
0:51.2	They'd aim toward Pluto, which lives in a region of the solar system called the Kuiper
0:55.6	Belt.
0:56.6	Just before arriving at the dwarf planet, the team noticed an object nearby and it was acting
1:01.9	very strange.
1:03.5	This object, whatever it was, was spinning faster than everything else around it.
1:08.6	Too fast, artificially fast, New Horizons changed course to do a fly-by.
1:13.9	They wanted a better look at this bizarre behavior.
1:16.8	But as the spacecraft approached the object, all communications went down.
1:22.0	NASA wasn't able to see or hear anything.
1:25.1	Something or someone was blocking the signal.
	...

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