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The strange tale of the Black Knight Satellite - UFO? - Mystery Files

Updated on March 26, 2012
Earth from Space
Earth from Space

These days we are quite used to the concept of artificial satellites. On a clear night you can look into the skies and see dozens of these technological marvels passing overhead. They connect our phone calls, beam down our TV channels and make our GPS receivers work. However, there was a time when satellites were not so ubiquitous - in fact they were rare - very rare.

The first ever artificial satellite was of course the famous Russian Sputnik . it was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on the 4th of October 1957. Not to be outdone, the USA launched it's own artificial satellite, "Explorer 1" shortly afterwards on January 31st 1958.

These were Man's tentative first steps into space. By today's standards these satellites were tiny, light weight and of limited functionality - but at least they were there.

Sputnik 1 Worlds first artificial satellite
Sputnik 1 Worlds first artificial satellite

The Black Knight

Fast-forward two years to the year of 1960. Satellites were still far from routine, but they had shown the military the potential of space-born attack by their enemies, and so the superpowers were now not only monitoring their air-space, but also the space above.

In February of that year, one of the listening stations that made up the North American Air Defence System, detected a radar echo. It was a detection that sent them, and the entire US Military into a blind panic.

They had detected a UFO in orbit around the Earth - an unknown satellite. None of their intelligence sources had any inkling that the Soviets could have launched a new satellite undetected. As the data came in, more startling facts were revealed - The UFO satellite was in a polar orbit - This was something that the USA had not yet been able to achieve. The size of the satellite was estimated to be in excess of fifteen tons - Massive by the standards of the day. The USA simply had no way of lifting something that heavy into space. The capability of lifting such payloads - or indeed achieving a polar orbit was estimated to still be several years away.

It was not, however, a Soviet satellite. In fact, they too had detected the UFO satellite, and they too were also in a blind panic. Like their American counterparts, they were still years away from performing such feats.

The Americans dubbed the UFO satellite "The Black Knight" after the British rocketry programme of the day, (although the Americans knew there was no way that the British could have launched such a beast). No one knew where it had come from, but one thing could not be denied - it was a UFO, and it was there.

Epsilon Bootes Star System
Epsilon Bootes Star System | Source

Extraterrestrial Clues?

The UFO was broadcasting signals and was being monitored not only by the USA and Soviet Union, but also by other countries such as Sweden and a host of Ham Radio enthusiasts.

One such Ham Radio operator decoded a series of signals received from the UFO Satellite and declared it to be a star-chart centered on the Epsilon Bootes Star System - But as it would have appeared from the Earth 13,000 years ago!

Another strange connection with the satellite concerned the phenomenon of Long Delay Echo (LDE). This is the effect whereby Radio or Television signals propagate into space and sometimes "bounce back" seconds or minutes later just like an echo. What causes this phenomenon, no one is quite sure.

However, some thirty years earlier in 1927, strange coded signals were received from space - (assumed to be an LDE) but could not be deciphered. The signals were however, documented and during the 1970s Scottish Astronomer Duncan Lunan decided to take another look at the signals and managed to decode them. They were, he said, a Star Chart of the Epsilon Bootes Star System.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper saw a UFO heading for his capsule
Astronaut Gordon Cooper saw a UFO heading for his capsule | Source

UFO - Caught on Camera

The UFO Satellite was actually photographed on September 3rd 1960, seven months after it first appeared on radar, by a tracking camera at the Grumman's Aircraft Factory on Long Island. It could sometimes be seen from the ground as a red glowing object moving in an east-west orbit at a time when most satellites moved West-east.

A committee was convened to examine the UFO Satellite phenomenon, but this just quietly slipped away from the public view.

Three years later American Astronaut Gordon Cooper was launched into space on a twenty-two orbit mission. During his final orbit, Cooper reported a UFO - he could see a glowing green object ahead of him in space which appeared to be closing in on his capsule. Cooper was reporting to the Muchea tracking station in Australia, who were able to detect the UFO on radar and confirmed that it was travelling in an East-West orbit.

The American News giant NBC got hold of the story, but were forbidden to ask Cooper about the UFO on his landing. As pressure built up from questioners as to what actually happened up there, an "Official" explanation was issued - Astronaut Gordon Cooper, they said had hallucinated due to high levels of carbon dioxide in the space capsule...

The Mystery of the UFO Satellite remains

UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record
UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record
An Air Force major is ordered to approach a brilliant UFO in his Phantom jet over Tehran. He repeatedly attempts to engage and fire on unusual objects heading right toward his aircraft, but his missile control is locked and disabled. Witnessed from the ground, this dogfight becomes the subject of a secret report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. In Belgium, an Air Force colonel investigates a series of widespread sightings of unidentified triangular objects, and he sends F-16s to attempt a closer look. Many hundreds of eyewitnesses, including on-duty police officers, file reports, and a spectacular photograph of an unidentifiable craft is retrieved and analyzed. Here at home, a retired chief of the FAA’s Accidents and Investigations Division reveals the agency’s response to a thirty-minute encounter between an aircraft and a gigantic UFO over Alaska, which occurred during his watch and is documented on radar. Now all three of these distinguished men have written breathtaking, firsthand accounts about these extraordinary incidents. They are joined by Air Force generals and a host of high-level sources—including Fife Symington III, former governor of Arizona, and Nick Pope, former head of the British Defence Ministry’s UFO Investigative Unit—who have agreed to write their own detailed, personal stories about UFO encounters and investigations for the first time.
 
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