00:00they told the world it didn't exist that it was a myth a science fiction fantasy dreamt up by
00:18paranoid minds and for years that was enough a few whispers in defense circles a brief mention
00:27in a declassified report quickly redacted dismissive laughter in press briefings but behind closed
00:34doors under the veil of national security the united states was building something not a missile
00:41not a drone not a bomb but a weapon that could kill from space it has no warhead no propellant
00:50no signature just a rod of solid tungsten around 20 feet long one foot in diameter weighing over
00:5810 000 pounds it travels at 10 times the speed of sound and when it hits it can strike with the
01:06force of a small nuclear bomb but with none of the radioactive fallout no mushroom cloud no public
01:13outrage no accountability they call it project thor or more ominously rods from god the idea is
01:23terrifyingly elegant place several of these rods in orbit on a satellite platform when a target is
01:30designated the satellite simply releases the rod gravity does the rest no need for propulsion
01:38no explosive payload the energy comes entirely from the sheer speed of descent upon impact the rod can
01:46deliver up to 11 tons of tnt equivalent kinetic energy that's enough to penetrate hundreds of feet
01:53of reinforced concrete to pulverize hardened bunkers to erase command centers in an instant and best of all
02:02there is no defense no existing radar system can track a rod falling from orbit at mach 10
02:10no anti-missile system can intercept it no early warning system can issue alerts the attack would be
02:17silent invisible and untraceable it would look like a natural disaster an earthquake a meteor strike
02:26but it would be war the concept of kinetic orbital bombardment isn't new it was first theorized during
02:34the cold war but abandoned due to the high cost of lifting heavy materials into space in the 1950s and
02:4260s both the us and soviet union toyed with space weapons the outer space treaty of 1967 banned the use of
02:51nuclear weapons in space but it said nothing about non-nuclear kinetic energy weapons that legal gray
02:59area remained untouched dormant until the technology caught up with ambition in the early 2000s after
03:09the failures of conventional bombs to destroy al-qaeda caves in afghanistan u.s military planners revisited the
03:16idea what if instead of trying to bomb a mountain from the air you could punch straight through it
03:24from orbit by 2003 the air force began allocating funds to the prompt global strike initiative which
03:32aimed to develop weapons capable of hitting any target on earth within one hour rods from god became
03:38more than a theory it became a line item in a black budget between 2003 and 2010 over 6 billion dollars was
03:48funneled into classified programs focused on global strike capabilities darpa the defense advanced research
03:56projects agency worked with private contractors to explore materials orbital platforms and targeting systems
04:05by 2014 documents leaked via whistleblowers revealed that test drops had already occurred over the pacific
04:13the official line was that these were dummy payloads but seismic monitors in micronesia recorded
04:20tremors equivalent to a 2.1 magnitude earthquake the source unknown then came the x-37b a mysterious unmanned
04:32space plane developed by boeing for the u.s air force it looks like a miniature space shuttle but it's fully
04:39robotic no pilot no windows just a cargo bay and an orbital path that no civilian agency can trace
04:47its first mission launched in 2010 since then it has completed six classified missions each lasting between
04:56270 and 900 days in orbit no one knows what it carries but in 2021 a french astrophysics observatory reported
05:08that the x-37b released six objects into orbit during its fourth mission the u.s refused to comment space
05:17analysts believe those objects were metallic cylinders roughly the size and shape of kinetic rods
05:24if true it means the u.s has already placed orbital weapons into earth's low atmosphere
05:31they are already there waiting hidden among commercial satellites sleeping above our heads
05:39the cost is immense each tungsten rod costs approximately 230 000 to manufacture launching it into orbit
05:49with a reusable rocket like spacex's falcon 9 costs another 10 million dollars a full platform of 12 rods would
05:59exceed 130 million dollars but the payoff is strategic supremacy no need for bases no need for allies
06:09no need for permission the u.s could strike any target in any country without entering their airspace
06:17within minutes within minutes with complete deniability in 2022 the pentagon quietly requested an additional
06:263.4 billion dollars under the line item orbital precision engagement systems the wording was vague the
06:35explanation redacted but it came the same month as a mysterious explosion at an iranian military facility
06:44in the alborz mountains the iranian government blamed a gas leak satellite images showed a 25-foot crater
06:53the u.s denied involvement but kinetic weapons are just the beginning the next frontier is lasers
07:01not the clunky battlefield lasers seen in hollywood these are compact solar powered and deadly in 2021
07:10lockheed martin received a 1.2 billion dollar contract for the development of space-based directed energy
07:18systems the program known internally as helios high energy laser with integrated optical dazzler and
07:26surveillance aims to mount lasers on orbital drones the energy is gathered from solar panels stored in
07:35superconducting superconducting batteries and unleashed in focused bursts capable of melting steel
07:41tests conducted in 2022 over white sands missile range in new mexico showed that helios lasers could
07:49disable a drone in 3.6 seconds but documents revealed by investigative journalists suggest that orbital tests
07:57have already begun in july 2023 a fire broke out in a chinese radar station in xinjiang province
08:07no missile was detected no explosion was heard the cause was internal overheating
08:14in the same month nasa's tracking telescopes observed a brief optical distortion over the site's
08:20coordinates a flash invisible to the naked eye but not to infrared sensors coincidence perhaps or perhaps
08:30a live demonstration this is the true face of modern warfare silent instant undeniable the u.s
08:39department of defense has long argued that its investments in space are for surveillance and
08:44communication but the numbers say otherwise since 2018 the u.s has spent over 58 billion dollars on
08:53military space operations that includes 17.3 billion dollars for orbital assets 14.9 billion dollars for
09:03global strike r d and 5.6 billion dollars for undisclosed strategic capabilities and then there's the legal cover
09:14the outer space treaty remains in force but the u.s refuses to sign additional protocols banning
09:21non-nuclear space weapons in fact when the u.n proposed a resolution in 2021 to prohibit the weaponization
09:31of low earth orbit the u.s voted against it along with only two other nations israel and the united kingdom
09:40why because space is no longer neutral territory it's a battleground and whoever controls orbit
09:48controls the earth that's not speculation that's doctrine the official u.s space force strategic framework
09:57published in 2020 states supremacy in space is a prerequisite for global military dominance orbital
10:06superiority ensures full spectrum deterrence in plain english control space or lose earth and yet most
10:15people remain unaware they look up and see stars satellites space stations they don't see the rods they
10:24don't hear the lasers they don't feel the surveillance until it's too late this isn't science fiction
10:31this is happening right now above us around us the u.s has already spent over 10 billion dollars
10:42developing a weapon that doesn't officially exist and yet it can strike anywhere on the planet at any time
10:50with no declaration no warning and no consequences this isn't just a weapon it's a message to every rival to
11:00every regime to every insurgent hiding in a cave or a bunker or a high-rise tower we can see you we can
11:08reach you and we can end you without a single soldier without a single drone without a single trace
11:16the era of silent wars has begun and the next one may already be underway up there in the silence above
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