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.