For decades, stories have circulated about a strange, dark object orbiting our planet. Some call it the Black Knight Satellite — an ancient alien probe left to watch humanity for the last 13,000 years. NASA calls it space junk. So what’s really up there?
1. Tesla’s Signals (1899)
When Nikola Tesla experimented with radio waves in Colorado Springs, he picked up rhythmic pulses he couldn’t explain. Believers point to this as the first contact with the Black Knight, whispering that the object was already circling Earth.
2. Radio Echoes From Nowhere (1920s)
Amateur operators across Europe reported long-delay echoes — their own transmissions bouncing back after several seconds. Some thought it was atmospheric reflection. Others claimed it was a machine in orbit, testing us.
3. Mystery Satellites Before Sputnik (1954)
In the Cold War era, newspapers reported that the U.S. Air Force had detected “two natural satellites” orbiting Earth — years before Sputnik 1. Were these misreadings, or evidence of a foreign (or non-human) technology?
(Left) Black Knight Alien Tech or (right) Space Debri
4. The Famous STS-88 Photo (1998)
Astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour snapped photos of a strange, black, angular shape drifting above Earth. NASA insisted it was a thermal blanket that floated away during assembly work. Conspiracy theorists insist it was finally caught on camera.
5. The 13,000-Year Orbit
Researcher Duncan Lunan once interpreted strange signals as a star map pointing to Epsilon Boötis — suggesting the satellite had been orbiting Earth for millennia. His theory was speculative, later withdrawn, but the 13,000-year claim stuck.
Why People Still Believe
The photos look weird. The STS-88 images really do resemble a dark craft.
The story spans decades. Tesla, Cold War satellites, and NASA give it a mythic timeline.
It’s cooler than “a blanket.” An alien watcher is a story worth retelling.
Skeptics Say
NASA’s line is clear: it was a piece of debris. Space is littered with loose parts, and thermal blankets do look strange in sunlight. Most “evidence” is stitched together from unrelated events across history.
Final Thought
The Black Knight Satellite is either a case study in how we weave myths from scattered data… or one of the most successful cover-ups in history. Until someone tracks the object in orbit today and proves what it really is, the story lives on.
The Face the Strange team talks about the Black Knight Satellite
Ziggy: “Look, if it was a thermal blanket, it’s the most dramatic, cinematic blanket in history. I’ve had coats less mysterious than that thing. You don’t get nicknames like Black Knight for something that looks like space laundry.”
Dana: “Or — radical thought — it’s actually just space laundry. Which is exactly what NASA engineers said it was while watching it drift away. No star maps. No alien surveillance. Just a shiny rag floating through orbit.”
Sam: “Come on, Dana. If it was just a blanket, then why has this story lasted decades? People want to believe because they know governments lie. And between Tesla’s signals, the echoes, and that photo, it doesn’t smell like coincidence. It smells like cover-up.”
Dana: “It smells like people connecting dots that aren’t there. Paranoia is not proof.”
Gaal: “Hang on — let’s not dismiss everything. The long-delay echo data is genuinely strange. Even modern atmospheric models don’t fully explain it. But a 13,000-year-old satellite? That’s where the math starts wobbling. The orbital decay rate doesn’t line up for something that old. If it were truly ancient, it shouldn’t even still be up there.”
Ziggy: “Which is precisely why some of us think it isn’t decaying. That maybe it’s maintained. Adjusted. Watched.”
Sam: [half joking] “Yeah, by the same guys who taught me chess in Reykjavik. Mysterious old men with moves you don’t see coming.”
Dana: [groans] “Everything doesn’t have to be Reykjavik and Fischer, Sam.”
Gaal: [smiling] “Still, she has a point. If the Black Knight is real, we need better data. Telescopes. Tracking. Something more than old headlines and fuzzy photos.”
Ziggy: “Until then, it remains what it has always been: a mirror. We see in it what we want to see. Junk. Alien. Or maybe, just maybe… a sentinel.”Dana: “Or — radical thought — it’s actually just space laundry. Which is exactly what NASA engineers said it was while watching it drift away. No star maps. No alien surveillance. Just a shiny rag floating through orbit.”
Sam: “Come on, Dana. If it was just a blanket, then why has this story lasted decades? People want to believe because they know governments lie. And between Tesla’s signals, the echoes, and that photo, it doesn’t smell like coincidence. It smells like cover-up.”
Dana: “It smells like people connecting dots that aren’t there. Paranoia is not proof.”
Gaal: “Hang on — let’s not dismiss everything. The long-delay echo data is genuinely strange. Even modern atmospheric models don’t fully explain it. But a 13,000-year-old satellite? That’s where the math starts wobbling. The orbital decay rate doesn’t line up for something that old. If it were truly ancient, it shouldn’t even still be up there.”
Ziggy: “Which is precisely why some of us think it isn’t decaying. That maybe it’s maintained. Adjusted. Watched.”
Sam: [half joking] “Yeah, by the same guys who taught me chess in Reykjavik. Mysterious old men with moves you don’t see coming.”
Dana: [groans] “Everything doesn’t have to be Reykjavik and Fischer, Sam.”
Gaal: [smiling] “Still, she has a point. If the Black Knight is real, we need better data. Telescopes. Tracking. Something more than old headlines and fuzzy photos.”
Ziggy: “Until then, it remains what it has always been: a mirror. We see in it what we want to see. Junk. Alien. Or maybe, just maybe… a sentinel.”