Ancient Life On Mars Theories Persist

By James Donahue

Ever since Percival Lowell peered through his telescope near Flagstaff, Arizona in 1895 and observed what he perceived to be canals on the Martian surface, humans have speculated about the possibility of intelligent life on our neighboring planet.

Even the astounding photographs produced by NASA in various "fly-bys" and two acting robots rolling across the rocky-desert type surface of the planet, have not produced evidence supporting or rejecting the speculators.

Richard C. Hoagland stirred the imagination of people all over the world when he published his book, The Monuments of Mars, which contained photographs snapped in 1976 by NASA’s Viking Orbiter of the now infamous "face on Mars."

Indeed, Hoagland’s image depicted a mile-wide rock that appeared to have been carved to show a human face peering out into space from a place known as the Cydonia region of Mars. Near the "face" can be seen other possible structures that could have been manufactured by an ancient intelligent culture. They include a large five-cornered pyramid, numerous smaller pyramids, a square form that Hoagland called "The Fort" and a cluster of small structures he identified as "The City."

Hoagland has stuck by his story even though NASA has since produced new images of the Cydonia region that show different perspectives of the rock formations that suggest they are nothing more than a cluster of large rock formations.

Hoagland published his book in 1987. Then in 1996, researchers excited the world once again when they announced that a Martian rock, which struck Antarctica as an asteroid in the distant past, appeared to contain fossilized remains of tiny living organisms.

Professional and interested researchers have since been studying the thousands of new images that have been produced by Marlin Space Science Systems’ Mars Global Surveyor and NASA’s two land rovers that have been slowly studying the surface of Mars from an "up-close-and-personal" perspective. Numerous interesting objects have been spotted that some have suggested may have been parts of machines and buildings now scattered like debris across the landscape.

The pictures also have shown over 120 sites where gullies and sharp cuts in the rock surface indicate the existence of flowing water in the recent past, small ice caps at the two poles that may consist of frozen water, another area near the southern ice cap that suggests additional ruins of buildings, and "tube-like" structures lying at the bottom of some of the deep crevices.

Famed scientist and science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke said the tubes reflect sunlight as if they are made of glass and they seem to show ribs or supportive framework. He said the images of the tubes are among "the most incredible" pictures show on Mars. He said in a recent magazine interview that the pictures "are pretty convincing proof of the existence of large forms of life on Mars."

But if Mars ever supported intelligent life, why hasn’t NASA found more exact proof after years of research?

Dr. John Brandenburg, a plasma physicist at University of California, Davis, believes he may have the answer. In a published paper titled "Evidence of Massive Thermonuclear Explosions in Mars Past, The Cydonian Hypothesis and Fermi’s Paradox," Brandenburg puts forth the theory that life on Mars was eradicated by at least two massive mixed fusion-fission explosions.

Brandenburg says he bases his theory on analysis of the planet’s gamma ray and imaging data that show high concentrations of Xenon-129 in the Martian atmosphere. That same concentration was found after various nuclear blasts, including the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear plant disasters on Earth.

If he is correct, the Brandenburg is proposing that the Martian’s destroyed their own world and went extinct because of their own folly while experimenting with nuclear power, it was some kind of natural disaster, or the population was "wiped out" and their monuments blown to smithereens by an alien race. All three theories could be taken as a warning to government and military leaders on Earth.