In the pilot episode, a team of Zero-X[n 1] astronauts investigate the surface of Mars in 2068 after unidentified radio signals emanating from the planet are detected on Earth.[e 1] The source is discovered to be an extraterrestrial base, which is attacked and destroyed when the explorers mistake a harmless sensor device for a weapon.[e 1] The inhabitants of the settlement, the Mysterons, are sentient computers that form a collective consciousness.[25] They are the remnants of the original Mysteron race, extraterrestrial life forms that originated in a galaxy other than the Milky Way and maintained their colony on Mars for 3,500 years before abandoning the planet at the turn of the 20th century.[25] Possessing partial control over matter, the Mysteron computers draw on their power of "reversing matter" to rebuild the complex before vowing revenge for the unwarranted aggression.[e 1]