The Black Knight Satellite - more questions than answers

originally posted by: yorkshirelad
OK silly question time : Why would aliens transmit a message in English? Surely anyone visiting this planet would transmit in the most commonly used language - Chinese. However, any race capable of speaking in an alien language (ours being alien to them) has the capability of transmitting the message in ALL languages. That way everybody on the planet would hear it.

The fact that the message just happens to be in the language of the country where the story started from is such a huge massive enourmous indication of "fake" or "urban myth" it beggars belief this thread has reached 3 pages.....

I would guess an easy way to prove/disprove would be to check out the star system referenced in the message with our exoplanet searching satellites. If planets and moons are detected, maybe there is more to the story.

a reply to: pavil

Currently, astronomers tend to believe that a star system without planets is rather an exception.

While I like the story, I know for certain it is a myth. There was a thread on ATS a while ago (a quick search would definately bring results) where the whole thing was debunked in detail.

originally posted by: PlanetXisHERE

originally posted by: Bedlam
a reply to: Phage

Anyone got a subscription to Time and see if the supposed article from the OP even exists? Not sure I want to drop $30 to find out.

It is so obvious this thing was alien. Astronomers from around the world watched this thing for a week or so back in 1960 and couldn't figure out what it was, of course they would have eliminated the obvious things. It had a polar orbit, nothing any earth craft could accomplish then.

Wrong. The whole basis on which you suggest this was alien just fell apart:

1959 August 13 - . 19:00 GMT - . Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: Vandenberg SLC1W. LV Family: Delta. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena A. LV Configuration: Thor Agena A 192 / Agena A 1029.

Discoverer 5 - . Payload: KH-1 9002 / Agena A 1029. Mass: 781 kg (1,721 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: DARPA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-1. Decay Date: 1959-09-28 . USAF Sat Cat: 18 . COSPAR: 1959-Epsilon-1. Apogee: 731 km (454 mi). Perigee: 214 km (132 mi). Inclination: 79.9000 deg.

www.astronautix.com...
That was just a few weeks before your article was published, inclination about 80 degrees, essentially a polar orbit. The power supply on the satellite failed so it was not recovered, but it made it to orbit. The first such satellite was launched in February of that year.

1959 February 28 - . 21:49 GMT - . Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: Vandenberg SLC1W. LV Family: Delta. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena A. LV Configuration: Thor Agena A 163 / Agena A 1022.

Discoverer 1 - . Payload: KH-1 prototype / Agena A 1022. Mass: 618 kg (1,362 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: DARPA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-1. Decay Date: 1959-03-03 . USAF Sat Cat: 13 . COSPAR: 1959-Beta-1. Apogee: 968 km (601 mi). Perigee: 163 km (101 mi). Inclination: 89.7000 deg.
Summary: First polar orbiting satellite; KH-1 prototype; did not carry camera or film capsule..

www.astronautix.com...

Also was estimated to be at least 15 tons, again far larger than anything anyone on earth could put up at the time.

According to who? Oh, the conspiracy theorist who posted on that dating website? That's not an authoritative source. Even if it were, it just so happens to coincide with the same month as the launch of the first polar orbiting satellite by the United States... I don't suppose that it could be deliberate disinformation to try to make the enemy think that the US didn't yet have polar orbiting satellites and so whatever was up there wasn't ours... naahhhhhh.... impossible, the government was always completely honest during the cold war.

Ironic, you claim not to trust the government, yet you trust a random dude on a dating site who says NORAD says they saw a "15 ton object" - which was weighed how exactly? Don't forget the fact that giant reflective self-inflating balloons were being launched into orbit in this period to provide a passive target to reflect communications signals and this would be distinguished from a "15 ton object" by radar how exactly? It would reflect radar signals just as well as a solid metal ball would.

Allegedly there were exchanges between the us and Russia over this issue of who put this 15 ton sat there.
IMO this BKS may be quite real
a reply to: ngchunter

originally posted by: Nochzwei
Allegedly there were exchanges between the us and Russia over this issue of who put this 15 ton sat there.

IMO this BKS may be quite real

Who alleged, and where? This whole story is so shrouded in myth, decades-old memories aren't good enough, checkable evidence is in short supply. We're not getting anywhere collecting rumors.

As far as the recent photos are concerned, are you satisfied they were only accidentally associated with the original story, and have now been adequately explained as soomething dropped during a 1998 spacewalk?

originally posted by: Nochzwei
Allegedly there were exchanges between the us and Russia over this issue of who put this 15 ton sat there.
IMO this BKS may be quite real
a reply to: ngchunter

You didn't answer my question. How was it determined that it was "15 tons"? There is no way they could have measured that. Even if they saw something with a huge radar cross section that doesn't mean anything; echo 1 had a huge radar cross section (~1000 square meters www.rfcafe.com... ) but it didn't have much mass. By comparison ISS has an RCS of "only" about 400 square meters (www.calsky.com... ). Echo 1 had a grand whopping total of 71.212 kg of mass (not counting the small batteries and telemetry equipment I think, which brought the total up to 180 kg or so), whereas ISS has a mass of about 417,289 kg or 460 tons (www.nasa.gov... ). The story and claim is nonsensical, nevermind the fact that it lacks any evidence whatsoever.

originally posted by: ngchunter

originally posted by: PlanetXisHERE

originally posted by: Bedlam
a reply to: Phage

Anyone got a subscription to Time and see if the supposed article from the OP even exists? Not sure I want to drop $30 to find out.

It is so obvious this thing was alien. Astronomers from around the world watched this thing for a week or so back in 1960 and couldn't figure out what it was, of course they would have eliminated the obvious things. It had a polar orbit, nothing any earth craft could accomplish then.

Wrong. The whole basis on which you suggest this was alien just fell apart:

1959 August 13 - . 19:00 GMT - . Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: Vandenberg SLC1W. LV Family: Delta. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena A. LV Configuration: Thor Agena A 192 / Agena A 1029.

Discoverer 5 - . Payload: KH-1 9002 / Agena A 1029. Mass: 781 kg (1,721 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: DARPA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-1. Decay Date: 1959-09-28 . USAF Sat Cat: 18 . COSPAR: 1959-Epsilon-1. Apogee: 731 km (454 mi). Perigee: 214 km (132 mi). Inclination: 79.9000 deg.

www.astronautix.com...
That was just a few weeks before your article was published, inclination about 80 degrees, essentially a polar orbit. The power supply on the satellite failed so it was not recovered, but it made it to orbit. The first such satellite was launched in February of that year.

1959 February 28 - . 21:49 GMT - . Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: Vandenberg SLC1W. LV Family: Delta. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena A. LV Configuration: Thor Agena A 163 / Agena A 1022.

Discoverer 1 - . Payload: KH-1 prototype / Agena A 1022. Mass: 618 kg (1,362 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: DARPA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-1. Decay Date: 1959-03-03 . USAF Sat Cat: 13 . COSPAR: 1959-Beta-1. Apogee: 968 km (601 mi). Perigee: 163 km (101 mi). Inclination: 89.7000 deg.
Summary: First polar orbiting satellite; KH-1 prototype; did not carry camera or film capsule..

www.astronautix.com...

Also was estimated to be at least 15 tons, again far larger than anything anyone on earth could put up at the time.

According to who? Oh, the conspiracy theorist who posted on that dating website? That's not an authoritative source. Even if it were, it just so happens to coincide with the same month as the launch of the first polar orbiting satellite by the United States... I don't suppose that it could be deliberate disinformation to try to make the enemy think that the US didn't yet have polar orbiting satellites and so whatever was up there wasn't ours... naahhhhhh.... impossible, the government was always completely honest during the cold war.

Ironic, you claim not to trust the government, yet you trust a random dude on a dating site who says NORAD says they saw a "15 ton object" - which was weighed how exactly? Don't forget the fact that giant reflective self-inflating balloons were being launched into orbit in this period to provide a passive target to reflect communications signals and this would be distinguished from a "15 ton object" by radar how exactly? It would reflect radar signals just as well as a solid metal ball would.

Sorry, my mistake, the first one was in February 1959, over a year before your claim that no earth craft could accomplish the task of a polar orbit. There was one in mid-August 1960 as well, just weeks before your article, but I quoted the wrong launch (a year before the article). Here's the right one:

1960 August 18 - . 19:57 GMT - . Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: Vandenberg SLC1W. LV Family: Delta. Launch Vehicle: Thor Agena A. LV Configuration: Thor Agena A 237 / Agena A 1056.

Discoverer 14 - . Payload: KH-1 9009 / Agena A 1056. Mass: 850 kg (1,870 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: KH-1. Decay Date: 1960-09-16 . USAF Sat Cat: 54 . COSPAR: 1960-Kappa-1. Apogee: 803 km (498 mi). Perigee: 177 km (109 mi). Inclination: 79.6000 deg

www.astronautix.com...

Having just picked up on this post, then spending a evening reading every reply, plus information obtained from the web on the subject of the BK, I felt forced to join ATS this evening to add my voice to the discussion.

Somewhere in the Universe there may be a Planet where civilization is beginning to develop, drawn into the orbit of this Plant is a craft that is sending out signals and star maps to its starting point .In time the Civilization reaches technology where it spots this object orbiting their Planet.

On this Planet is a group of citizens who belong to a forum that argues over what it is ,is it space junk or a alien craft.

Where the Plant is I have no idea ,where the craft came from I do it came from Earth and was launced to find other civilizations

Just a thought.

a reply to: nemmis1946

Welcome to the discussion. What remains undetermined -- a skillful internet search ought to find it -- is WHO first associated the 1998 STS-88 photos [of the dropped blanket] with the pre-existing 'Black Knight' myth cycle. It would be helpful to know the person's name.

Can you track that down and find out? Serious suggestion. This will take some time but will be good for your karma.

a reply to: Rubicant13

In 1973, the Scottish astronomer and science fiction writer Duncan Lunan claimed to have managed to interpret a message caught in the 1920s by two Norwegian physicists[21] that, according to his theory, came from a probe orbiting the Moon and sent there by the inhabitants of a planet orbiting Epsilon Boötis.[22] The story was even reported in Time magazine.[23] Lunan later withdrew his Epsilon Boötis theory, presenting proofs against it and clarifying why he was brought to formulate it in the first place but would later go on to revoke his withdrawal.[24]

An excerpt from Wikipedia.

Still an interesting story though

Hey. This is an interesting cover up.
Black knight is also a victim of cover up, looks like
a reply to: AkaDeDrow

a reply to: AkaDeDrow

This story may have its roots in the early X band radar testing.
Germany was bouncing radar signals off the moon, possibly for a secure over the horizon communication link.

The movie ID 4 had a similar scenario in one of the opening scenes but that could be a coincidence.
Those pulsing signals from the mother ship sounded more like music than Dieter Binningers clock though.

Dark knight was code for later technology functionally closer to the keyhole program.

As quite an elderly person ,over my years I have seen some strange things in the sky and on land ,some were easy to explain others were not and still bring enjoyment to my grandchildren in there telling.

Back to my previous point ,if we at out level of technology could send out deep probes to search for other civilizations why would it be so strange that older civilizations would not have done the same .
Maybe those civilizations have long passed but there probes still keep sending there messages.

I don't for one minute suggest that the BK is a genuine alien craft or probe maybe it is just a piece of space junk ,my feeling though is over the last twenty years it seems to me that we are being led by certain political leaders via main stream film and Television producers to a level of revelations that we are not alone and we should keep a open mind on the subject instead of ignoring it. .
Just my thoughts .

originally posted by: Nochzwei
Hey. This is an interesting cover up.
Black knight is also a victim of cover up, looks like
a reply to: AkaDeDrow

I'm going to assume that was a joke, considering that the "Black Knight" was nothing more than a thermal blanket for a trunnion pin...

a reply to: Nochzwei

to be honest I can see both sides, I'm not arrogant enough to say that it cannot possibly exist, space is incredibly large and anything is possible out there, not to mention the likelihood of alternate realities and extradimentional realities.
The man may have stumbled upon a secret and was coerced into repudiating his statement, it wouldn't be the first time.

or

He made it up, lol, you never know.

I've personally seen enough weirdness over the years to have an open mind.

originally posted by: AdmireTheDistance

originally posted by: Nochzwei
Hey. This is an interesting cover up.
Black knight is also a victim of cover up, looks like
a reply to: AkaDeDrow

I'm going to assume that was a joke, considering that the "Black Knight" was nothing more than a thermal blanket for a trunnion pin...

Why would a trunnion pin need a blanket?
This turkey does flip about and change orbit on its own , does it not?

New website article about the Black Knight story....

Warning -- it quotes me.

www.atlasobscura.com...

well I have read several threads about this before

I find, these videos, interesting in their consistency


www.youtube.com...

www.youtube.com...( don't know why he had to add, the music, other than the obvious)

www.youtube.com... ( I guess, this, was the original space blanket, if, the above videos, are to believed and not, CGI then there must be a few floating around in earths orbit)

there, was another video, which shows and astronaut, tethered on a line and this supposed thing, beneath them to the right, bottom corner

I am sure, there was another vid, but cannot find it

interesting netherless

originally posted by: Dharma Employee
well I have read several threads about this before

I find, these videos, interesting in their consistency


www.youtube.com...

These are hoax videos (and old hoax videos at that). Stop falling for it. Someone photoshopped the original blanket or a model of the original blanket into newer footage from a Soyuz at ISS. Here's the original footage from before the fake UFO was added:

originally posted by: Dharma Employee
I am sure, there was another vid, but cannot find it

Here, let me help you out:

Although it's claimed to be a video from a shuttle Discovery mission to Mir from June 1998, it's a faked video from a hoaxer using a still image from a much later mission by Discovery, STS-114. Here's the original image he used for the space shuttle, he simply cut it out of the original image, rotated it 90 degrees and pasted it into his poorly faked scene:
spaceflight.nasa.gov...
Don't believe me? Here's a gif I made by merging the rotated photo back into his scene:
h.dropcanvas.com...
It's a perfect match. Oh, and see how some of Discovery's RCC tiles on the leading edge of the wing are lighter in color than the rest? That's not what it looked like back when she flew STS-91 in 1998:
science.ksc.nasa.gov...
science.ksc.nasa.gov...
Debunked.