The Khafre Pyramid SAR Scan Bullshit
Well, the internet's at it again folks, this time going insane with claims of "astonishing" structures extending a whopping 648 meters below the Khafre Pyramid on the Giza Plataue!
The alleged structures were allegedly discovered using Synthetic Aperture Radar, or SAR for short. That this radar is provided by satellites orbiting the Earth is one of the few verifiable facts in this story.
News of this "massive underground structure" was provided by none other than flat-Earther, Greg Reese (he proudly owns that idiocy here), who is of course associated with Alex 'Bullshit' Jones and his bullshit spewing [Dis]InfoWars machine. The article, titled SAR Scan of Khafre Pyramid Shows Huge Underground Structures, includes the following:
The analyses of dozens of tomographic SAR images obtained from different angles enabled the 3D reconstruction of inside the pyramid of Khafre. And deep beneath the surface of the plateau.
Near the base of the pyramid, 5 identical structures are seen, connected by geometric pathways. Inside each of these are 5 horizontal levels and a sloping roof.
Below these 5 structures are 8 cylindrical structures which appear to be vertical wells, hollow inside, and surrounded by descending spiral pathways. These 8 vertically aligned cylindrical structures, arranged in two parallel rows from north to south, descend to a depth of 648 meters where they all merge into two large cubic structures measuring approximately 80 meters per side.
The entire structure extends approximately two kilometers beneath the surface. And extends beneath all three pyramids of the Giza Plateau complex.
Critical problems with Reese's story become immediately apparent upon the slightest bit of research. First of all, the so-called "official press release" is provided by YouTuber 'EXPEDITION -Nicole Ciccolo-', rather than any official organization. The publication date of her video is 6-Feb-2025.
Video: Official press release. Giza Plateau: discovery of a huge city under the Pyramids. - YouTube
Official Statement to the Public and the Press, Italian and International
We are pleased to announce the first results of the team coordinated by Professor Corrado Malanga, Filippo Biondi, Armando Mei, and Nicole Ciccolo, responsible for the Communication Area.
contact:
ufficiostampa@expedition-nicoleciccolo.com
One who visits expedition-nicoleciccolo.com, which was registered in December, 2024, will discover that there is no relevant website at that domain.
Turing our attention back to Greg Reese's 18-Mar-2025 edition of the 'Reese Report', he writes:
This March 15th press release summarized the key findings in the team's research of the second largest pyramid of the Giza Plateau, known as the Khafre Pyramid.
The only "findings" that people seem to have found, myself included, is a 2022 paper by Filippo Biondi and Corrado Malanga which Reese doesn't bother to link to. Titled Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography Reveals Details of Undiscovered High-Resolution Internal Structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the paper refers to SAR scans of the Khufu pyramid (a.k.a. the Great Pyramid), not the Khafre pyramid which Reese writes about, and nowhere in it is any mention of the alleged massive structures despite the mention of these same structures existing below all three of the largest pyramids on the Giza Plateau as we shall see in the next document.
Resse's article seems to be a compilation of both scientific and decidedly unscientific articles which he presents as a unified and official scientific finding in an obvious attempt to embellish the story and establish credibility. One of the articles he may have used to assemble his own was written by 'Occultum' which, call me crazy, just doesn't seem to have that scientific ring to it. The article, dated 19-Mar-2025 and titled, EGYPT DISCOVERY 2 KM BELOW KHAFRE PYRAMID SHOWS TRANSFORMER LIKE ELECTRICAL COLUMNS, is where we find the elusive structures that Reese tells us extends 648 meters below the Khafre pyramid.
The 'Occultum' article refers to several videos, including one by Ben of UnchartedX (a super fantastic source) as supporting evidence of the alleged structures below the Khafre pyramid, however this seems disingenuous because the shafts which UnchartedX films have been known to exist for a very long time and Ben and Yousef not only make no connection between these rectangular shafts and structures alleged to have been found under the Khafre pyramid, but they question the validity of the 2022 SAR radar work. From the somewhat butchered video transcript:
... so he obviously works in that industry with satellite based stuff he looked at their paper they looked at the mathematics and I think they're quite skeptical because for one thing it's like they just did they basically are looking at data from just like like one pass they they weren't it's just one pass and so they're kind of interpreting the data he he's he was skeptical as to the results ...
The obvious problem with the images in the Occultum article is that they are alleged representations of the SAR satellite radar data and herein is where we stumble upon our next problem.
The companies Umbra Lab and Capella Space provided the SAR scan data and a seemingly creditable person on Reddit who claims to work with both companies wrote the following in a post titled SAR Scan of Khafre Pyramid Shows Huge Underground Structures in the /r/conspiracy sub-reddit:
Very interesting, I work with Umbra and Capella space quite frequently. I'll double check if this is actually possible with some of our scientists. As far as i know, space based SAR systems cant penetrate that far into the ground. Did some experiments last year, and just one layer of tinfoil is enough to reflect/block SAR. But i'll check and report back
Roughly a day later the same person posted the following:
Well, here I am again. As promised, I did talk to one of our SAR experts, who has being working with SAR and data visualization for over 20 years, and I was not totally disappointed with his answer. I actually found the initial paper this team put together talking about this same kind of experiment using the Giza pyramids, and how they "detected" the inside structure of it (you can read it yourself here). But basically, they are not directly seeing anything, but measuring micro changes to the surface (SAR allows you to do that since it is extremely precise) and inferring what those changes might mean, using seismic activity to cause those changes. Therefore, although it is technically possible to infer what is below the surface, it is also very dependent on this proprietary software they are using to discern what is it that they are actually looking at. That level of detail where you can see tubes and structures around it, that is wishful thinking. Their initial paper that talks about Giza also benefits because we do know the internal structure of the pyramid already, so it would just be validating that, which is much easier than looking at something completely new and assuming "its a perfect structure that looks like this".
TL;DR: It is technically possible to identify SOMETHING might be there, but not to affirm what it is, exactly how it looks like and say its not a natural formation.
Okay, so it appears there's no possible way that SAR radar can penetrate anywhere near the depth required to identify anything deep underground, and under a massive stone pyramid, much less provide accurate dimensions, but it wasn't radar alone that was employed here.
In the Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography Reveals Details of Undiscovered High-Resolution Internal Structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza paper by Filippo Biondi and Corrado Malanga, they are apparently using proprietary software to interpret the data from the SAR radar in order to somehow figure out what lies at the depths they claim to have penetrated.
The measures reported are evaluated by using Tape Measuring Wall Area software (http://www.pictureenginecompany.com/MeasureEngine/Promo.html) emploing as internal standard the pyramid's base lenght and are in accordance whith the results afforded by Sar data.
If one visits the link provided, pictureenginecompany.com, one finds there is nothing there but unrelated gibberish and that the domain has been used by a couple of other people or companies having nothing to do with SAR radar or pyramids, at least according to the archive.org captures which i visited.
From the article, The Great Khafre Hoax: Unpacking Ongoing Viral Pyramid Claims, by 'AncientEpoch', let's see if we can discover any other anomalies regarding this story.
Malanga and Biondi published a paper on ResearchGate in August 2022. Titled "Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography Reveals Details of Undiscovered High-Resolution Internal Structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza," it targets Khufu's Great Pyramid, not Khafre. They use SAR data from the COSMO-SkyMed satellite to track micro-movements. These vibrations, stirred by seismic waves, suggested unseen cavities or passages within Khufu's pyramid. Malanga, then affiliated with the University of Pisa's Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, brought a chemist's precision. Biondi, an engineer at the University of Strathclyde's Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, supplied the technical rigor.
Where are they Now?
Neither researcher appears on their departments' faculty listings by March 2025. Malanga's fringe pursuits possibly lead him to retirement or independent study. Biondi's perhaps temporary stint likely concluded, leaving his current endeavors unclear. Their 2022 paper remains unendorsed by Egyptologists and untested by excavation. It confines itself to Khufu's structure. The leap to a Khafre-centric subterranean complex narrative stems from this 2025 viral hype. We await Malanga and Biondi's clarification on this bridge of speculation.
Malanga and Biondi aligned their passion for historical mysteries with Nicole Ciccolo, a YouTuber from the Expedition channel. She promoted their conference on March 16, 2025, in Bologna, Italy, organized with Archeoares, a group tied to cultural events. This event promised to unveil the researchers' Khafre Pyramid findings. Ciccolo's videos brim with anticipation and frame it as a seismic shift in pyramid lore. Her audience prepares for a revelation that could rewrite history. The date passes, and a void opens. No papers have emerged, no footage has surfaced. No official statement clarifies the event's substance. As of March 21, 2025, we wait to hear what Malanga and Biondi present. Will they substantiate the subterranean complex or distance themselves from the hype?
And a bit further on:
Experts assessing SAR technology, the cornerstone of Malanga and Biondi's work. They describe it as a master of surfaces, tracking vibrations and mapping terrain. Its waves falter against deep earth, though. Imaging 648 meters below ground exceeds today's science. The Khafre Pyramid subterranean complex scans appear technically impossible unless the researchers hold unrevealed evidence.
Dr. Robert Schoch, well known for challenging the nonsensical date that mainstream Egyptologists stamped on the Sphinx, had the following to say on Facebook (you'll have to take my word for it since i don't have a Facebook account):
Reports of a study, using geophysical and remote techniques (specifically, Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography), that concludes there are eight huge columns under the Second Pyramid (Khafre Pyramid), extending perhaps two kilometers down, have been circulating on the internet. Thus far, I cannot evaluate the legitimacy or validity of this assertion as a I have not seen any details, such as the raw data and analyses of the researchers involved. The only paper that I have found cited in conjunction with this latest assertion was published in 2022 ("Synthetic Aperture Radar Doppler Tomography Reveals Details of Undiscovered High-Resolution Internal Structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza" by Filippo Biondi and Corrado Malanga, Remote Sens. 2022, 14(20), 5231; I read it back in 2022) and while it does intriguingly suggest that there are some previously unknown chambers within the Great Pyramid, it does not support the presently circulating assertions regarding giant and deep structures under the Second (Khafre) Pyramid, nor a network of tunnels, etc., etc. I will remain skeptical regarding the latest announcement until I see more information, and specifically the data on which it is based. It is very easy to misinterpret geophysical data and "noise" for "signal", so while I am certainly open to new and remarkable discoveries on the Giza Plateau, I remain guarded in any enthusiasm until such possible discoveries are verified.
Make of all this what you will, but it smells like bullshit to me.