Last
weekend, NASA called for a press conference to announce a major discovery
regarding the planet Mars. During the meeting, they revealed some pretty
shocking information, completely changing what we once thought about the “red”
planet that, suddenly, doesn’t seem so red anymore.
1. Mars Has Flowing Rivers Of Water On
It
Yesterday,
NASA announced that Mars actually has rivers of flowing water on it. What we
once believed to be an arid and rocky desert of a planet is actually seasonal,
not unlike our own planet Earth. Lujendra Ojha, a planetary scientist at the
Georgia Institute of Technology, made the discovery by using images from NASA’s
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This raises a number of other questions, many of
which are brought up in the press conference below.
“Mars is not
the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past … [and] liquid water has
been found on Mars.” – James Green, NASA director of planetary sciences
2. Mars
Could Have Had Extraterrestrial Life Living On It
“We are
going to Mars, our journey to Mars is a science led expedition right now, but
soon I hope we’ll be sending humans to the red planet to explore and science
will lead the way. And today’s announcement of a really fascinating result
about current water on Mars is one of the reasons why I feel it’s even more
imperative that we send astrobiologists and planetary scientists to Mars to
explore the question of, ‘Is there current life on Mars?’ ” – John Grunsfeld,
five time space flown astronaut, Associate Administrator Head of NASA Science
Mission Directive.
Obviously,
with the announcement that there is water on Mars, the possibility of life near
the surface becomes ever more plausible. The press conference also goes into
more details about the atmosphere and condition of Mars, and how the planet
could have supported life in the past. I will elaborate on this in the next
section.
Another
interesting fact is that the possibility of life in the interior of Mars has
always been quite high.
“The
possibility of life in the interior of Mars has always been very high. There’s
certainly water somewhere in the crust of Mars … It’s very likely, I think,
that there is life somewhere in the crust of Mars.” – Alfred McEwen, Principal
Investigator, HiRISE, University of Arizona (30:25)
3. Mars Was
Once A Planet Very Much Like Earth, With A Giant Ocean
“The more we
observe Mars, the more information we’re getting that it really is a
fascinating planet, from the Curiosity Rover we now know that Mars once was
like a planet very much like Earth, with long salty seas, with fresh water
lakes, probably with snowcapped peaks and clouds and a water cycle just like
we’re studying here on Earth … Something has happened to Mars, it lost its
water.” – John Grunsfeld, five time space flown astronaut, Associate
Administrator Head of NASA Science Mission Directive
John also
goes on to discuss the high likelihood that Mars previously sustained life,
before whatever happened to the planet that lead to its change in climate.
Scientists are still struggling to work out what exactly that event or series
of events may have been.
“Mars is the
planet most like Earth … [and don't forget it was also in the past] Mars was a very different planet,
it had an extensive atmosphere, and in fact it had what we believe was a huge
ocean, perhaps as large as two thirds the Northern Hemisphere. And that ocean
may have been as much as a mile deep. So Mars indeed three billion years ago
had extensive water resources. But something happened. Mars suffered a major
climate change and lost its surface water.” – James Green, NASA director of
planetary physics
As pointed
out in the press conference, this discovery is so exciting because it suggests
that Mars could possibly sustain life in the present day. This is not only due
to the presence of water; rovers have discovered that there is a lot more
humidity in the air than we once thought. Indeed, the soils are moist,
hydrated, and full of water.
“The reason why it’s even more imperative that we send
astrobiologists and planetary scientists to Mars to explore the question of is
there current life on Mars.” – Alfred McEwen, Principal Investigator, HiRISE,
University of Arizona (source)
4. Something
Happened To The Planet That Drastically Changed Its Climate
As you can
see from the two quotes in the above section by John Grunsfeld and James Green
(taken from the press conference below), something happened to Mars that
drastically changed its environment. It seems the climate altered
significantly, but what caused this change? Scientists at NASA have yet to
figure this out, but some interesting theories have been proposed.
Given the
fact that scientists are almost certain that life once existed on Mars, and
without question throughout the universe, is it really that farfetched to
assume that a race of intelligent beings once inhabited Mars?
We already
have statements from a number of astronauts suggesting that intelligent
extraterrestrial life has already been discovered.
“There is
abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been
monitoring us for a very long time.” – Former NASA Astronaut and Princeton
Physics Professor (source)
“I happen to
be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this
planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real… .” (source)
“Yes there
have been crashed craft, and bodies recovered … We are not alone in the
universe, they have been coming here for a long time.” – Dr. Edgar Mitchell,
6th man to walk on the Moon, Doctor of Science.(source) (source)
It’s not
only a large and growing number of NASA astronauts who share this belief, it’s
also political, military, and academic personnel from all over the world. And
then there are the thousands of pages of documents detailing UFOs undertaking
incredible aerial maneuvers. You can read more about that phenomenon, find some
more quotes, and read a few articles here.
So, did
historical intelligent life on the planet Mars have something to do with its
drastic climate shift? At this point it’s impossible to say, but according to
Dr. John Brandenburg, PhD, and plasma physicist, life on Mars was eradicated by
nuclear war. He believes that a couple of intelligent civilizations from
ancient history were responsbile for this, and in his published works, argues
that the coloration and composition of Martian soil points to a series of “mixed-fission
explosions” which lead to nuclear fallout on the planet. (source)(source)
Like the
astronauts quoted above, Brandenburg is no crackpot, he was involved in the
Clementine Mission to the Moon, which was part of a joint space project between
the Ballistic Missile Defence Organization (BMDO) and NASA. The mission
discovered water at the Moon’s poles in 1994. He was the deputy manager of that
mission. (Source: page 16 of 18)(source)(source)
Maybe
intelligent life did have something to do with it? Brandenburg certainly seems
to think so, but regardless of what caused Mars’ climate shift, we’ve certainly
been left with some fascinating information to consider.
Updated version of the previous article.
Updated version of the previous article.