When it comes to secret space projects, the stories get wilder than a sci‑fi blockbuster. From alleged lunar outposts to time‑bending missions, these ten conspiracies claim the governments are hiding whole worlds right under our noses.
Understanding the Secret Space Narrative
10 Alternative 3The Hoax Broadcast That Started It All?
Just after Anglia TV aired the documentary Alternative 3 in the UK in 1977, the phone lines lit up with bewildered viewers demanding answers. The film claimed that a covert space program had been building a Mars base for decades, prepping humanity for an impending Earth disaster.
The uproar was so intense that Anglia TV was forced to admit the program was a hoax—originally slated for an April Fools’ slot but delayed until June 20. Yet a legion of skeptics persisted, insisting the broadcast exposed a genuine hidden operation. This very hoax unwittingly sowed the seeds for countless secret‑space theories that still circulate today.
9 Project Serpo
In 2005 an internet whisper claimed the U.S. had struck a deal with extraterrestrials from a planet called Serpo in the Zeta Reticuli system. The story, allegedly leaked by a whistle‑blower named Victor Martinez, described how the government recovered a surviving Roswell crew member, an alien craft, and several deceased alien bodies.
The recovered alien allegedly helped scientists reverse‑engineer its technology and open a communication channel with its home world. By 1964 the “Ebens” supposedly returned to Earth, negotiating an exchange program dubbed Project Serpo. Twelve military volunteers were supposedly selected, their civilian identities erased.
These astronauts allegedly launched in 1965, vanished from contact for years, and re‑appeared in 1978—only eight alive. Two had perished en route, and two chose to remain on Serpo. The debriefings were said to span over 3,000 pages.
8 Solar Warden
The “Solar Warden” theory posits a clandestine fleet of spacecraft silently patrolling our solar system. Some believers argue the fleet defends Earth from alien threats; others claim it’s a covert colonization effort for an elite few.
Critics point out that even assuming the technology existed, maintaining such a fleet would run into the billions. Proponents counter that a deeper “black‑budget” exists, possibly funded by reverse‑engineered alien tech that’s roughly twenty years ahead of public knowledge.
NASA consultant Dr. Eric Norton even claimed he discovered a fleet of “technologically advanced” ships behind the Moon in 2012, noting that by the following year Mars seemed to lag further behind the mysterious fleet.
7 Project Horizon
Declassified files released by the National Security Archive in 2014 reveal Project Horizon—a 1959 initiative to evaluate a permanent Moon base. While the public narrative frames it as scientific progress, the documents suggest the primary motive was to outmaneuver the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The plan called for a “Moon‑to‑Earth surveillance system” that could monitor activities from a lunar outpost. Although Apollo missions did land on the Moon between 1969 and 1972, official accounts describe only brief stays for experiments and rock collection.
Conspiracy circles argue those missions were a façade, masking the construction of a hidden base. The original documents are available through the National Archives for anyone who wants to dig deeper.
6 The Rosetta Conspiracy
In late 2014 the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, promising the first close‑up study of a comet’s composition. Some skeptics, however, claim the “comet” was actually an alien craft that agencies deliberately concealed.
Whistle‑blowers allege that NASA had detected mysterious signals from the object two decades earlier, and that the comet’s exterior showed artificial, machine‑like components. Adding intrigue, ESA announced that 67P had broadcast a “mystery song,” fueling speculation that the object was anything but a natural rock.
5 Time Travel To Mars
According to informants Michael Relfe and Dr. Andrew D. Basiago, the CIA launched a secret time‑travel program in the late 1960s that also allowed teleportation to Mars. Relfe claims the operation began after the CIA pilfered Nikola Tesla’s papers following his 1943 death.
Recruited in 1976, Relfe says he spent two decades helping to install one of two Martian colonies. Upon mission completion, he was allegedly “age‑reversed” and sent back to his original timeline—a standard protocol, he asserts, with most participants having their memories suppressed.
Basiago adds that the CIA used exceptionally gifted schoolchildren for the missions, as adults reportedly went insane under the strain. He also claims to have seen a future 9/11 image in 1971, allegedly retrieved from the future via the program.
4 Secret Nazi Space Program From Reptilian Guidance
Beyond the well‑known Antarctic Nazi base rumors, some theorists assert that the Third Reich was building a secret space program with direct assistance from reptilian aliens. According to U.S. Navy intelligence officer William Tompkins, these extraterrestrials supplied the technical know‑how and guided the Nazis to hidden Antarctic sanctuaries.
Although it’s unclear whether the program ever achieved orbit, claims persist that the Nazis succeeded enough to establish a lunar base. After WWII, Operation Paperclip allegedly transferred these scientists to the United States, allowing the alleged program to continue under American oversight.
3 Remote Viewing To Jupiter
Before Pioneer 10 sent the first close‑up images of Jupiter, the CIA supposedly ran a secret remote‑viewing experiment that let participants “astrally” travel to distant planets. Stanford scientists were recruited, and one of the most famous participants, Ingo Swann, claimed to have witnessed a ring encircling Jupiter.
When Pioneer 10 later confirmed the presence of Jupiter’s rings, Swann’s prediction seemed eerily prescient. He also allegedly identified objects placed hundreds of miles from his physical body, bolstering his claim of successful astral projection.
While mainstream science dismisses remote viewing as fringe, Swann’s account remains a fascinating footnote—perhaps the only mind‑only voyage to Jupiter on record.
2 37B What Is It Doing?
By May 2016, the unmanned shuttle X‑37B had completed a full year in orbit, yet the public remained clueless about its purpose. NASA stayed tight‑lipped, while Russian media speculated the craft was part of a U.S. anti‑satellite weapons program—a modern echo of Reagan’s “Star Wars.”
Independent experts argue the shuttle’s design isn’t suited for weaponry, but the secrecy fuels endless conjecture. Senior scientist Laura Grego of the Global Security Program remarked she sees “no compelling reason” for such secrecy and can’t envision any experiment demanding it.
1 The Apollo 20 Mission To Ancient Alien Moon Base
In April 2007, YouTube user William Rutledge posted videos purporting to show a clandestine Apollo mission from August 1976. According to Rutledge, his team landed on the Moon, discovered an ancient alien base, and encountered a female humanoid in “suspended animation.”
The alien, dubbed “Mona Lisa,” allegedly weighed 75 kg and stood 170 cm tall, with five fingers plus a thumb—leading the crew to hypothesize that the aliens used a base‑12 counting system.
Rutledge claimed his crew had only rudimentary medical training but prepared to transport Mona Lisa back to Earth, famously declaring, “She is not—she is on Earth!”