The "Black Knight" Satellite

[Hum]

What is the "Black Knight" satellite? It is a mysterious satellite, of unknown origin, discovered in 1960 which shadowed Sputnik. It is believed to have been of extraterrestrial origin, and signaled back old radio waves from the 1920s and 1930s before it disappeared. In short wave patterns analyzed by astronomer Duncan Lunan, it revealed its origin as Epsilon Bo?tes (or the star system as it was 13,000 years ago).

In "Disneyland of the Gods", by John Keel, he reports in depth on this satellite:

"In February 1960 the US detected an unknown object in polar orbit, a feat that neither they or the USSR had been able to accomplish. As if that wasn't enough, it apparently was several sizes larger than anything either country would have been able to get off the ground.

And then, the oddness began. HAM operators began to receive strange coded messages. One person in particular said he managed to decode one of the transmissions, and it corresponded to a star chart. A star chart which would have been plotted from earth 13,000 years ago, and focused on the Epsilon Bostes star system.

On September 3, 1960, seven months after the satellite was first detected by radar, a tracking camera at Grumman Aircraft Corporation's Long Island factory took a photograph of it. People on the ground had been occasionally seeing it for about two weeks at that point. Viewers would make it out as a red glowing object moving in an east-to-west orbit. Most satellites of the time, according to what little material I've been able to find on the black knight satellite, moved from west-to-east. It's speed was also about three times normal. A committee was formed to examine it, but nothing more was ever made public.

Three years later, Gordon Cooper was launched into space for a 22 orbit mission. On his final orbit, he reported seeing a glowing green shape ahead of his capsule, and heading in his direction. It's said that the Muchea tracking station, in Australia, which Cooper reported this too was also able to pick it up on radar traveling in an east-to-west orbit. This event was reported by NBC, but reporters were forbidden to ask Cooper about the event on his landing. The official explanation is that an electrical malfunction in the capsule had caused high levels of carbon dioxide, which induced hallucinations."

source

Monday, Mar. 07, 1960

Time Magazine

Three weeks ago, headlines announced that the U.S. had detected a mysterious "dark" satellite wheeling overhead on a regular orbit. There was nervous speculation that it might be a surveillance satellite launched by the Russians, and it brought the uneasy sensation that the U.S. did not know what was going on over its own head. But last week the Department of Defense proudly announced that the satellite had been identified. It was a space derelict, the remains of an Air Force Discoverer satellite that had gone astray. The dark satellite was the first object to demonstrate the effectiveness of the U.S.'s new watch on space. And the three-week time lag in identification was proof that the system still lacks full coordination and that some bugs still have to be ironed out.

First Sighting. The most important component of the space watch went into operation about six months ago with the construction of "Dark Fence," a kind of radar trip wire stretching across the width of the U.S. Designed by the Naval Research Laboratory to keep track of satellites whose radios are silent, it is a notable improvement on other radars, which have difficulty finding a small satellite unless they know where to look. Big, 50-kw. transmitters were established at Gila River, near Phoenix, Ariz, and Jordan Lake, Ala., spraying radio waves upward in the shape of open fans. Some 250 miles on either side, receiving stations pick up signals that bounce off any object passing through the fans. By a kind of triangulation, the operators can make rough estimates of the object's speed, distance and course.

On Jan. 31 Dark Fence detected two passes of what seemed to be an unknown space object. After detecting several passes during the following days, Captain W. E. Berg, commanding officer of Dark Fence, decided that something was circling overhead on a roughly polar orbit. He raced to the Pentagon and in person reported the menacing stranger to Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke. Within minutes the news was communicated to President Eisenhower and marked top secret.

In the confusion, there was a delay before anyone took the step necessary to positively identify the strange satellite: informing the Air Force's newly established surveillance center in Bedford, Mass. It is the surveillance center's job to take all observations on satellites from all friendly observing centers, both optical and electronic, feed them into computers to produce figures that will identify each satellite, describe its orbit and predict its behavior. Says one top official, explaining the cold facts of the space age: "The only way of knowing that a new satellite has appeared is by keeping track of the old ones."

It took two weeks for Dark Fence's scientists to check back through their taped observations, and to discover that the mysterious satellite had first showed up on Aug. 15. The Air Force surveillance center also checked its records to provide a list of everything else that was circling in the sky, and its computers worked out a detailed description of the new object's behavior. The evidence from both Air Force and Navy pointed to Discoverer V, fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif, on Aug. 13.

SOURCE: Time Magazine

[Draconian Guppy]

pics!

[Luc2k]

pics!

Here's video evidence

This sound like ghost story, too bad I wasn't in bed all with hot cup of cocoa when I read it.

[Hum]

One curious discrepancy ...

... discovered in 1960 which shadowed Sputnik.

Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958

Did the Russians detect the unknown satellite and keep it secret ?

Who discovered the Black Knight ...

[Hum]

pics!

[Draconian Guppy]

I'm gussing that's not an actual pic :p

On topic, if indeed there is that "unknown" satellite out there, why not come CLOSER to it :wacko:

[Hum]

I'm guessing that's not an actual pic :p

On topic, if indeed there is that "unknown" satellite out there, why not come CLOSER to it ?

May or not be -- the pic poster did not give any source.

Could they take color high altitude pictures in 1960 ... ?

[Growled Member]

It might be anything.

[FunkyMike]

http://eol.jsc.nasa....55517610441.tsv

Looks like it is an official NASA pic.

[mudslag]

my money is on photoshop

[Hum]

Did the Russians detect the unknown satellite and keep it secret ?

Who discovered the Black Knight ...

Hmmm ...

In 1953, four years before the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik I, an object of unknown origin was sighted by Dr Lincoln La Paz of the University of New Mexico orbiting the earth. As more reports of sightings trickled in from around the world, the U.S. Department of Defense appointed distinguished astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh (best known for his discovery of the dwarf ?planet? of Pluto in 1930) to run a search for the mystery object. The blip became known as "Black Knight".

The Pentagon never formally released the results of Dr Tombaugh?s study. No more was heard about the object until December, 1957, when Dr Luis Corralos of the Communications Ministry in Venezuela photographed it. The first modern satellites, Sputnik I & 2, had been launched just a few months earlier. Dr Corralos was taking pictures of the second of these modern marvels as it passed over Caracas, and his photos caught the unknown object shadowing the Russian craft.

"Black Knight" was observed once again in 1960, this time by one of the stations that formed the Northern American Air Defense System. The object was in a polar orbit, something that neither the Americans or Soviets were capable of at the time. Several times larger and heavier than anything capable of being launched with 1960 rockets, it shouldn?t have been there, but it was. The observance sent panic through the U.S. military. Not only did the intelligence agencies have no idea that the USSR had launched a new satellite, nothing in their reports on Soviet space activity suggested they had the capacity to place an object into a polar orbit, or to launch something that was estimated to be in excess of 15 tons. The military scientists were horrified, since they were at least four years away from achieving polar orbits and getting payloads that large into space.

Similar waves of shock and anxiety were spreading through the Soviet ranks. They had not launched the satellite and knew they were years away from being able to accomplish such a feat, they also knew that the Americans could not do it either. No one knew where it came from, but it was definitely there.

[Draconian Guppy]

May or not be -- the pic poster did not give any source.

Could they take color high altitude pictures in 1960 ... ?

Probably not, recolored like most moon landing shots

[FunkyMike]

Probably not, recolored like most moon landing shots

Camera Tilt: High Oblique

Camera Focal Length: 250mm

Camera: HB: Hasselblad

Film: 5069 : Kodak Elite 100S, E6 Reversal, Replaces Lumiere, Warmer in tone vs. Lumiere.

[Draconian Guppy]

Camera Tilt: High Oblique

Camera Focal Length: 250mm

Camera: HB: Hasselblad

Film: 5069 : Kodak Elite 100S, E6 Reversal, Replaces Lumiere, Warmer in tone vs. Lumiere.

Thanks for clearing that out good sir

you missed 5069 = " Color positive"

[Hum]

http://eol.jsc.nasa....55517610441.tsv

Looks like it is an official NASA pic.

Thanks.

Sounds doubtful this is the 'Black Knight' then:

Mission: STS088 Roll: 724 Frame: 66 Mission ID on the Film or image: STS88

Country or Geographic Name: OCEAN

Features: PAN-SNGLNT., SPACE DEBRIS

In 1987 Shuttle Endeavour Mission STS-088 photographed a mysteries object orbiting the Earth. There are 5 photos of the object on the NASA web site. It clearly shows a large orbit circling the Earth. Is it possible that NASA inadvertently photographed the Black Knight satellite? Could this be the same object Gordon Cooper spotted over Australia while on its 22 orbit on board Faith 7?

[FunkyMike]

Thanks for clearing that out good sir

you missed 5069 = " Color positive"

I just copy pasted from the nasa link ;)

Thanks.

Sounds doubtful this is the 'Black Knight' then:

Hard to really say on what it is. I guess that is what makes the theory so exciting.

[FunkyMike]

Well no matter what the picture shows, the Black Knight Satellite topic is interesting because it keeps coming up year after year and apparently has been in circulation since the 1960s in various sizes and shapes.

The biggest issue is finding real information on it, but glancing through it does indicate some kind of tangible info.

[Hum]

I wonder if this was some inspiration for Arthur C. Clarke and the 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[spacer]

Looks like the end of a Reaper tentacle. :|

[Praetor]

if it's a space debris, then it's a debris from what?

[eXtermia]

I wish my grandfather was still around (died about 3 years ago) He and his wife were ham operators during this time and even had talked to some of the apollo missions. But they also did some yellow tape on the side with the polarbear network and codfish networks. They have QSL cards from all over the world... 73's

Edited January 25, 2013 by eXtermia

[compl3x]

May or not be -- the pic poster did not give any source.

What? A conspiracy theorist on the Internet hasn't properly sourced their material? What is the Internet coming to?

[Hum]

if it's a space debris, then it's a debris from what?

Good question. ;)

I wish my grandfather was still around (died about 3 years ago) He and his wife were ham operators during this time and even had talked to some of the apollo missions. But they also did some yellow tape on the side with the polarbear network and codfish networks. They have QSL cards from all over the world... 73's

Cool story.