HELIOS
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| DSCS III A3 | |
|---|---|
| The Department of Defense has declassified access via uplink to the DSCS 3 satellite. Good Luck and Godspeed. | |
| Type | Official |
| Creator | Alice & Smith |
| Discovered | 2021-12-05 |
Main Page > List of Investigations > HELIOS
The DSCS III A3 ARG is an ongoing ARG by Alice & Smith. The initial trailhead notes that access that a US Department of Defense communications satellite has been authorized.
Contents
Day 1
At 03:24 UTC on 2021-12-05, the Alice & Smith (A&S) Twitter account tweeted "WARNING - DSCS III A3 access has been authorized. Good Luck and Godspeed." with a link to the A&S Discord.
This was followed up at 17:05 UTC with a second tweet stating "UPDATES | Dec 5th | - DSCS III A3 IRC TOR uplink and RTMP FEED updated to version 636f-rev1.". The reference to an RTMP feed led players to a Twitch stream titled HELIOS Task Force on the dscs_iii_a3 channel.
The stream contained an interactive terminal which users could enter commands into and get responses from. The initial terminal upon loading the stream was:
Setting hostid: 636f-rev1... Entropy harvesting: interrupt ethernet Fast boot: skipping disk checks Mounting remote file systems Starting network: DVB-TEXT DSCS-III-A3 Uplink Parameters: 7600 mhz - 7604 mhz Additional TCP/IP options: .sgov=1 Starting IRC TOR PID Manual: www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki-ts/cmd-636f Starting background file system check in 60 seconds
Clicking on the icon to the right of the stream for the Helios terminal popped up a Twitch window describing it. This included a note saying that the command HELP should be used to start. Entering this into the terminal resulted in:
Available commands: version coredump help <ACCESS DENIED> <ACCESS DENIED> <ACCESS DENIED> Enter ‘help <command>’ for more information
Typing in help version and help coredump resulted in the following:
help version Command help for: version Displays the version details for DSCS_III_A3 help coredump Command help for: coredump Output a module's memory state Enter ‘coredump <module>’ to execute
Players then ran the version command, which gave them a hexadecimal code output.
DSCS_III_A3 Version 63 6f 6d 6d 61 6e 64 20 27 71 75 65 72 79 27 20 73 75 70 70 6f 72 74 20 3d 20 31 00
Converting the hexadecimal code to text produced the message command 'query' support = 1. This new command could be confirmed by typing in help query
Command help for: query Displays data relating to query subject Enter ‘query <module>’ to check for system status Latest system inventory: chks1029
By querying the latest system inventory noted on the last line of the output, players received info regarding several key systems:
ERROR: chks1029 format type table 31575 | Factory Main Door 25798 | Security Terminal 75879 | Main Control Room 59579 | Nuclear Blast Door 99879 | Lights Out Factory 65548 | Assembly Line Alpha 65549 | Assembly Line Beta 65550 | Assembly Line Delta 65551 | Assembly Line Gamma 75998 | Site Alpha Invalid query for module 'chks1029'
Attempting to query most of the provided ID numbers would result in unknown commands, however entering query 31575 would output:
Query Module 31575 Status Request - Factory Main Door Authorized commands: execute 31575 -open -<door access code> execute 31575 -close -<door access code> Please stand by... Module Status: Online
Players who ran the command coredump 31575 would be provided with a list of 9 pages of data to sort through.
WARNING: memory coredump for 31575 Generating files... 180 entries / GRID 20 by 9 coredump -read 31575.page1 coredump -read 31575.page2 coredump -read 31575.page3 coredump -read 31575.page4 coredump -read 31575.page5 coredump -read 31575.page6 coredump -read 31575.page7 coredump -read 31575.page8 coredump -read 31575.page9 Process successful
Entering these commands into the terminal would provide the data detailed below.
Coredump 31575 Pages
Page 1 provided three "blocks" of three-number digits, each arranged in a 5x4 grid.
Memory Coredump PAGE 1 Module 31575 Block 1 666 242 355 398 456 576 483 559 374 416 515 424 363 672 533 273 482 302 216 484 Block 2 105 101 497 171 408 277 473 691 457 239 607 368 971 450 528 472 174 435 467 508 Block 3 258 599 225 202 857 519 447 317 206 614 516 364 582 461 121 279 476 383 123 526 [End of file]
Page 2 provided a list of colored books, seen below, with years as file extensions. The use of these "books" and years is currently unknown.
Memory Coredump PAGE 2 Module 31575 Blue book repo /repo/bb /1955 /1958 /1961 /1969 Yellow book repo /repo/yb /1971 /1976 /1980 Red book repo /repo/rb /1982 /1983 /1985 /1991 /1993 /1996 /1997 Green book repo /repo/gb File access denied [End of file]
Page 3 initially provided nothing, until some time estimated around 01:00 UTC, when it would update to read the following.
Memory Coredump PAGE 3 Module 31575 Audio Frenquency Render Completed 12-05-2021-16h17m28s [End of file]
Page 4 provided another set of three number "blocks", just as Page 1 did.
Memory Coredump PAGE 4 Module 31575 Block 4 303 631 747 421 333 196 562 401 219 458 170 711 134 644 307 556 593 369 585 608 Block 5 362 853 953 471 594 404 422 643 809 863 600 427 475 345 566 677 124 445 496 418 Block 6 145 757 448 659 394 520 715 617 624 162 500 361 265 532 518 919 178 480 667 495 [End of file]
Page 5 provided a unique encrypted text detailed below.
Memory Coredump PAGE 5 Module 31575 Buffer Available 7e 20 38 20 64 61 79 73 20 74 6f 20 45 4c 45 [End of file]
Decoded, the hexadecimal string read ~ 8 days to ELE . "ELE" is currently believed to stand for "Extinction Level Event".
Page 6 provided five IRC/RTMP addresses, detailed below. The purpose of these addresses are currently unknown.
Memory Coredump PAGE 6 Module 31575 OPEN SOCKET 14321535.relay.nsa.sgov 14154789.relay.defense.sgov 14545787.relay.nevada.intelink.sgov 14998541.relay.rtmp.twitch.tv 14516555.relay--DVB-TEXT-IRC/.onion [End of file]
Page 7 initially returned empty, but between the 100th and 200th command entry, updated to say the following.
Memory Coredump PAGE 7 Module 31575 Unable to terminate process RTMP Feed interference Calibration required CLIPID #1 : <url not found> CLIPID #2 : <url not found> CLIPID #3 : <url not found> CLIPID #4 : <url not found> CLIPID #5 : <url not found> CLIPID #6 : <url not found> CLIPID #7 : <url not found> CLIPID #8 : <url not found> Query database 75998 via relay 75879 when ready [End of file]
At the same time of Page 7 updating, the intro message updated to Revision 4, with a new warning:
WARNING: System status set to 'hibernate' Restore Point: 12-07-2021 16:00 Local Time All process still operational
Page 8 provided the third and final set of number boxes. These three sets of number boxes would soon be used to solve the first proper puzzle.
Memory Coredump PAGE 8 Module 31575 Block 7 249 937 708 423 439 184 474 701 650 712 615 746 606 148 511 563 567 713 132 635 Block 8 260 137 381 255 696 347 649 313 601 751 353 459 228 580 574 257 692 404 632 136 Block 9 399 561 190 238 295 116 512 545 375 454 460 354 534 517 477 308 725 430 540 999 [End of file]
Page 9 provided a status screen of the satellite, detailed below. As of the first ~10 hours of the ARG, it read the following.
Memory Coredump PAGE 9 Module 31575 STATUS dscs_iii_a3 | access granted Control Door | awaiting command Station 1 | booting ~ 24h Control Room | access denied [End of file]
Should this change, the changes will be documented.
Module 31575 - Factory Door Solve
Following some hours of nothingness, players began to notice quirks within the livestream's audio. A series of sharp and deep tones would continuously repeat, to which players began to document.
The series would play Sharp, Two Deep, Sharp, Three Deep, Sharp, Five Deep, Sharp, Seven Deep, Three Sharp. The series would then repeat.
A keen-eared player noticed the tones corresponded to the first four numerical prime numbers, Two, Three, Five, and Seven. Using the "blocks" provided by the coredump pages 1, 4, and 8, a central superblock was formed utilizing earlier information from the initial coredump command, stating a "20x9 grid". Within this grid, substituting all non-prime numbers for zeroes, and all prime numbers for ones, a grid of zeroes and ones was formed, and when turned to it's side, spelled the word KEY.
The solve led to the completion of the command execute 31575 -open -key, which, when entered, would return the following.
Accessing local PGP Key /home/31337/.ssh/31575 Access authorized Requests received so far: 0 Connecting to module 31575 TAK1 - Valid TAK6 - Valid BGD8 - Valid DTB3 - Valid SDD4 - Valid Adding your entry, please wait... Process completed.
Note the line which says Requests received so far: 0. This is what was returned upon the first entry of the command, with every subsequent unique entry counting up by one. At 25, 50, 75, and 100 entries, a routine camera check would be initiated, showing more of the facility to the livestream. These four camera checks each revealed new areas of the facility. When the final goal of 200 entries was reached at 11:35 UTC, the factory door seen on the livestream opened.
Day 3
On 2021-12-7, at 12:00 AM UTC, or 16:00 Local Time on the livestream, the second module, Module 25798 - Security Terminal became available, along with new commands relating to the new module, as well as updates to old commands.
Page 9 of the Factory Door coredump, the status page, had updated to read the following.
Module 31575 STATUS dscs_iii_a3 | access granted Control Door | access granted Station 1 | access granted Control Room | access denied [End of file]
The first of the new commands was query 25798, which set the frame for the second puzzle. When entered, it would return a new set of available execute commands, seen below.
Query Module 25798 Status Request - Security Terminal Authorized commands: execute 25798 -register -<UID> execute 25798 -commit -<branchid> Please stand by... Module Status: Online
The second of the new commands was 5 new pages of coredump information, accessed using coredump 25798, returning a new set of 5 pages, detailed below, and a line reading 5 entries / 10 digits ID. Players suspected this to be vital to the construction of the solution as it had been in the previous puzzle, relating to the grids.
Coredump 25798 Pages
Page 1 provided the first block fragments of cryptic information to be used in solving the second puzzle, detailed below.
Memory Coredump PAGE 1 Module 25798 Block Fragment -01: Aug -02: 134 -03: data.dscsiii-a3.directory/31zCVhu [End of file]
The link in this set of data is a valid image link, and leads to a classical painting of Thor's Fight with the Giants.
Page 2 returned the following.
Memory Coredump PAGE 2 Module 25798 Block Fragment -01: Little Arrow [End of file]
Page 3 returned similarly little:
Memory Coredump PAGE 3 Module 25798 Block Fragment -01: 92 TJ [End of file]
Page 4 provided links to two more images, the first, the logo for the Soviet space program Interkosmos, and the second, a crop of fresco The School of Athens.
Memory Coredump PAGE 4 Module 25798 Block Fragment -01: data.dscsiii-a3.directory/3dzEo9L -02: data.dscsiii-a3.directory/3y4KyIo [End of file]
Page 5 ended the set of data with a seemingly ominous message, simply reading -01: 243 days [End of file]
Module 25798 - Security Terminal Solve
Following a set of hints from the Clippy Database, players learned the solution dealt with Satellite Catalog Numbers, or SATCATs for short, which were to be entered as the "UIDs", and would, when entered, give two characters and what order of sequence the characters were, leading to the second part of the puzzle, the "branchid".
The first satellite in the sequence was SATCAT number 00015, corresponding to the Explorer 6 satellite. This answer was gotten from page 1 of the coredump, with Explorer 6's serial number being "Thor 134". Entry of this UID returned the players with the first fifth of the branchid: "a4"
The second in the sequence was SATCAT number 00055, corresponding to the Sputnik 5 satellite. This answer was gotten from page 2 of the coredump, with "Little Arrow" being the translated name of Strelka, one of the two dogs aboard the Sputnik 5 satellite. Entry of this UID returned the players with the second fifth of the branchid: "g7"
The third in the sequence was SATCAT number 04382, corresponding to the DFH-1 satellite. This answer was gotten from page 3 of the coredump, with "92 TJ" meaning 92 Tera Joules, the explosive yield of China's Project 596, as part of the Two Bombs One Satellite project, of which DFH-1 was the first satellite launched by the project. Entry of this UID returned the players with the third fifth of the branchid: "x9"
The fourth in the sequence is unknown. Its part of the branchid, "c1", was bruteforced.
The fifth in the sequence was SATCAT number 04489, corresponding to the Venera-7 satellite. This answer was gotten from page 5 of the coredump, with "243 days" referring to the rotational period of the planet Venus, which is 243 days. The satellite itself was found by virtue of being the first satellite to ever return data about Venus to humanity. Entry of this UID returned the players with the final part of the branchid: "d7".
With all 5 parts of the branchid discovered, players put them together to complete the command execute 25798 -commit -a4g7x9c1d7. Entry of this command began a similar process to the factory door, requesting 100 unique entries of the command to continue.
As of 2021-12-08 9:30 PM UTC, this phase is ongoing.
