1 00:00:01,140 --> 00:00:02,440 NARRATOR: Nuclear annihilation. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,020 This would have been an absolutely devastating event. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:08,460 NARRATOR: Mysterious pyramids. 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,160 There are, apparently, these unusual structures there. 5 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,100 NARRATOR: And evidence of life billions of years ago. 6 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,220 Researchers found objects that looked 7 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,280 extremely similar to microorganisms here on Earth. 8 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,260 NARRATOR: Throughout human history, 9 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,400 the planet Mars has captured our imagination. 10 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,340 But is it simply because of its striking red color and 11 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,440 prominence in the night sky? 12 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:40,060 Or might there be a more profound 13 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,300 extraterrestrial connection? 14 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,320 NASA knows there is life on Mars. 15 00:00:47,020 --> 00:00:52,040 But for some reason, it does not want that information out. 16 00:00:53,100 --> 00:00:55,140 NARRATOR: Millions of people around the world 17 00:00:55,220 --> 00:00:57,380 believe we have been visited in the past 18 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,020 by extraterrestrial beings. 19 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,300 What if it were true? 20 00:01:03,340 --> 00:01:07,320 Did ancient aliens really help to shape our history? 21 00:01:08,380 --> 00:01:13,360 And if so, might they have come from the red planet of Mars? 22 00:01:45,140 --> 00:01:50,480 Cape Canaveral, Florida, August 20, 1975. 23 00:01:52,180 --> 00:01:55,160 MAN Ignition, we have liftoff. 24 00:01:55,420 --> 00:01:58,380 NARRATOR: The United States launches a Titan rocket, 25 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,200 carrying the Viking spacecraft. 26 00:02:02,420 --> 00:02:05,260 Viking is embarking on a 420 million 27 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,060 mile journey to one of the most prominent 28 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:09,440 sites in the night sky-- 29 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:13,400 Mars. 30 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,220 If all goes well, in 11 months, the unmanned probe 31 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,020 will touch down on the Martian surface and search 32 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:24,380 for evidence of life. 33 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,160 Mainstream scientists say Mars is most likely a dead planet 34 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,020 because of its incredible temperature swings 35 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,000 and high levels of solar radiation. 36 00:02:39,060 --> 00:02:43,080 So why is NASA spending a billion to explore it? 37 00:02:46,340 --> 00:02:49,080 JONATHAN YOUNG: The night sky is an astounding thing. 38 00:02:49,220 --> 00:02:51,380 To the naked eye, the red planet could be 39 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:53,420 seen with its special colors. 40 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:55,240 After all, it's the biggest thing 41 00:02:55,300 --> 00:02:57,320 you see up there past the moon. 42 00:02:58,020 --> 00:03:01,420 So it's been a special object of fascination and reverence, 43 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,040 because religious systems often were 44 00:03:04,100 --> 00:03:07,420 associated with planets and the stars, the sky in general. 45 00:03:08,260 --> 00:03:09,480 Speculations abound. 46 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:11,060 What's there? 47 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,360 Is intelligent life there or the gods there? 48 00:03:13,420 --> 00:03:15,440 That's gone on for a long time. 49 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,260 ROBERT FRISBEE: Our dream for life on Mars 50 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,380 probably goes back even to the ancient times, 51 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,100 when we were just doing naked eye observation. 52 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:30,100 It's the planet that really stands out 53 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,140 that we now know is very close to Earth in terms 54 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:35,440 of physical conditions. 55 00:03:36,060 --> 00:03:40,160 Even though Venus is much more like Earth in size and gravity, 56 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,340 it's a hell hole in the solar system. 57 00:03:47,100 --> 00:03:52,060 But Mars-- Mars is out there, within our grasp. 58 00:03:54,140 --> 00:03:55,380 NARRATOR: Among the first to record 59 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,260 this fiery red ball in the night sky 60 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,120 were ancient Egyptian astronomers. 61 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:07,340 In 1534 BC, they placed Mars on humanity's 62 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:12,160 first chart of the known cosmos, the Senemut star map. 63 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,300 2 and 1/2 centuries later, the Egyptians painted the planet 64 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,300 Mars on the ceiling of the tomb of Seti I. 65 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,380 But while the Egyptians honored Mars, 66 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,260 many other ancient cultures feared it 67 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,480 because they associated the red planet with death, 68 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,320 destruction, and war. 69 00:04:36,460 --> 00:04:39,060 According to some anthropologists, 70 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,080 this is because the planet glows red, like the color of blood 71 00:04:43,180 --> 00:04:45,360 spilled on the battlefield. 72 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,120 The association of the red planet with the gods of war 73 00:04:52,180 --> 00:04:53,380 goes way back. 74 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:59,000 In ancient Babylon, Mars was named after Nergal, 75 00:04:59,060 --> 00:05:02,140 the god of fire, death, and destruction, 76 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,300 essentially a god of war. 77 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:09,180 The Greeks named Mars after Ares, their god of war. 78 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,380 The Romans, Mars, that is their god of war. 79 00:05:16,340 --> 00:05:18,220 Rome was a warrior culture. 80 00:05:18,380 --> 00:05:22,120 So this martial emphasis all connected to the red planet 81 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:25,240 is accounting for the great armies that conquered the known 82 00:05:25,300 --> 00:05:28,260 world, a very successful story, and very much 83 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,480 aligned with the planet Mars. 84 00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:38,480 NARRATOR: In 42 BC, the Roman forces of Augustus 85 00:05:39,060 --> 00:05:42,380 waged the Battle of Philippi against Marcus Brutus, 86 00:05:43,020 --> 00:05:46,220 as Augustus tried to avenge the assassination of his 87 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:48,480 adopted father, Julius Caesar. 88 00:05:51,020 --> 00:05:53,420 Augustus pledged to the god of war, Mars, 89 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,380 that if he won this battle, he would 90 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,480 build a great temple for him. 91 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:05,300 JOHN BRANDENBURG: So he won the battle, 92 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,300 became Caesar Augustus, one of the greatest 93 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:09,420 of the Roman emperors. 94 00:06:10,020 --> 00:06:13,240 And he created the Temple of Mars. 95 00:06:14,020 --> 00:06:16,380 And whenever Rome would declare war, 96 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,220 the temple doors would be thrown open. 97 00:06:22,300 --> 00:06:25,280 RICHARD RADER: It was called a temple to Mars the Avenger. 98 00:06:26,260 --> 00:06:29,240 Famously, we say the gates of war, nowadays, right. 99 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:32,300 And it was the gates of Mars's temple 100 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,340 that were opened or closed, depending upon whether there 101 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,320 was a war going on. 102 00:06:40,340 --> 00:06:44,060 From India to Rome, all of the ancient societies 103 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:48,120 had a reverence for Mars, a great closeness to Mars-- 104 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:51,180 very important in their pantheon, very important 105 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,060 in the imagination of the people that some kind 106 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,360 of connection with that red planet be maintained. 107 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,120 NARRATOR: But while many ancient societies 108 00:07:05,180 --> 00:07:09,020 felt a bond with Mars, most did not identify 109 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,040 it as a planet like Earth. 110 00:07:11,100 --> 00:07:13,160 The ancients thought the planets were 111 00:07:13,220 --> 00:07:15,260 as uninhabitable as the sun. 112 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:17,380 They saw them as wandering stars. 113 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,120 In fact, the word "planet" means in Greek 114 00:07:21,180 --> 00:07:23,200 "wandering star," planeta. 115 00:07:23,340 --> 00:07:26,200 You have the fixed stars, the constellations. 116 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,020 But then you have these stars wandering about. 117 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,300 They seem to follow the sun because they appear 118 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,080 to move against the background of the fixed stars 119 00:07:35,140 --> 00:07:36,440 the same way the sun does. 120 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,080 NARRATOR: It wasn't until the 17th and 18th centuries 121 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,120 when astronomers finally had telescopes powerful enough 122 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,060 to make out features on the surface of Mars 123 00:07:48,260 --> 00:07:51,100 that we started to imagine life on the red planet 124 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,160 as a real possibility. 125 00:07:54,380 --> 00:07:57,000 SETH SHOSTAK: By the 1860s, an Italian astronomer 126 00:07:57,060 --> 00:08:01,300 by the name of Angelo Secchi thought he saw straight lines 127 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:03,440 crisscrossing the surface of our little ruddy buddy 128 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,060 up there, Mars. 129 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:06,380 And he called them canali. 130 00:08:07,060 --> 00:08:09,300 The idea was picked up by an American astronomer 131 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,140 by the name of Percival Lowell. 132 00:08:11,260 --> 00:08:13,180 And Percival Lowell built his own observatory 133 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:14,380 down in Flagstaff, Arizona. 134 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,220 He spent a lot of time looking through a telescope at Mars, 135 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,460 and he wrote books about this. 136 00:08:19,020 --> 00:08:20,400 He was articulate. He was clever. 137 00:08:20,460 --> 00:08:22,320 And he convinced a lot of the public 138 00:08:22,380 --> 00:08:24,380 and some of the scientific establishment 139 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,460 that there really was a civilization on Mars 140 00:08:28,020 --> 00:08:30,160 busy digging up their planet because they 141 00:08:30,220 --> 00:08:32,180 needed to irrigate their crops. 142 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,140 NARRATOR: But why has Mars fascinated 143 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,280 humankind throughout history? 144 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,440 Is it simply due to the planet's proximity to Earth 145 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,020 and its striking red color in the night sky? 146 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,000 Or is it possible, as ancient astronaut theorists contend, 147 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:57,340 that Mars really was at one time inhabited by intelligent life? 148 00:09:03,180 --> 00:09:08,460 The Cydonia region of Mars, July 20, 1976. 149 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,380 An alien spacecraft sent from Earth touches 150 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:16,380 down on the red planet. 151 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:18,180 MAN Nav is green for touchdown. 152 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:20,080 NARRATOR: After a 10 month journey, 153 00:09:20,140 --> 00:09:22,380 Viking 1 has reached its destination. 154 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,460 MAN Touchdown. We have touchdown. 155 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,280 NARRATOR: To NASA scientists, it's a momentous event. 156 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,420 For the first time in its history, 157 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:36,280 the United States has a probe on another planet. 158 00:09:37,460 --> 00:09:40,240 Viking was the first spacecraft 159 00:09:40,300 --> 00:09:44,040 to actually attempt a soft landing on Mars 160 00:09:45,060 --> 00:09:49,140 and give us an actual feel, a taste, for what the conditions 161 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,020 were on the surface. 162 00:09:52,380 --> 00:09:55,380 We looked out at those pictures of the surface, 163 00:09:56,020 --> 00:09:59,120 and they looked so much like the Pacific deserts 164 00:09:59,180 --> 00:10:01,360 here, like Death Valley. 165 00:10:02,140 --> 00:10:04,420 We all half-expected to see a miner 166 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,300 and his burrow come walking up over the nearest rise. 167 00:10:10,300 --> 00:10:12,240 NARRATOR: Scientists knew that finding 168 00:10:12,300 --> 00:10:16,040 definitive signs of life on Mars was a long shot. 169 00:10:17,020 --> 00:10:19,360 But when the Viking Lander performed four tests 170 00:10:19,420 --> 00:10:23,060 on the Martian soil looking for microbial life, 171 00:10:23,340 --> 00:10:27,360 it returned surprising and controversial results. 172 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,420 Dr. Gil Levin designed one of the tests 173 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,180 that the Viking probe performed. 174 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,280 GIL LEVIN: Microorganisms breathe, just like you 175 00:10:37,340 --> 00:10:39,040 or I or anything else. 176 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:41,380 And then they give off carbon dioxide. 177 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,320 So we got a tiny sample, a thimble full, of the soil 178 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,480 put into a little container. 179 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,080 It was monitored for seven days continuously 180 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:56,420 to see if there are any bubbles forming in the tube. 181 00:10:57,180 --> 00:11:01,220 Surprisingly, the test came up positive 182 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:06,240 for life by the criteria that had been approved by NASA. 183 00:11:09,060 --> 00:11:12,040 NARRATOR: However, the result of another important test, 184 00:11:12,220 --> 00:11:15,160 one looking for organic matter on the Martian surface, 185 00:11:15,220 --> 00:11:17,060 was negative. 186 00:11:17,220 --> 00:11:20,380 But Dr. Levin says the other test wasn't nearly 187 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:23,100 as sensitive as his experiment. 188 00:11:23,380 --> 00:11:27,440 It needed 3 million bacteria in a thimble full of Martian soil 189 00:11:28,060 --> 00:11:31,120 to find signs of life, while Dr. Levin's 190 00:11:31,180 --> 00:11:34,260 test only required 30 bacteria. 191 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,240 So there was a vast discrepancy in the sensitivity 192 00:11:39,300 --> 00:11:40,340 of the two experiments. 193 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:42,060 And I immediately said, well, you know, 194 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:43,260 they both could be right. 195 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:45,160 We detected life, but maybe there 196 00:11:45,220 --> 00:11:49,020 aren't enough bacteria per unit of soil 197 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:52,040 for the organic analysis instrument to find. 198 00:11:52,180 --> 00:11:57,040 But NASA was very cautious, and they opted 199 00:11:57,100 --> 00:11:59,460 to say, no organic matter. 200 00:12:00,340 --> 00:12:02,440 There goes the ball game. No life. 201 00:12:05,100 --> 00:12:08,480 NARRATOR: Dr. Levin has fought NASA for almost 40 years 202 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,240 on whether the Viking probe found evidence of life on Mars. 203 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:16,420 If he was right about the results of his test, 204 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,460 this would be the first proof accepted by mainstream science 205 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,180 that life exists outside our planet. 206 00:12:24,340 --> 00:12:26,380 But ancient astronaut theorists say 207 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,380 an even more profound discovery regarding the red planet 208 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,100 has been uncovered right here on Earth. 209 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:39,000 Mysterious relics that may reveal an actual visitation 210 00:12:39,060 --> 00:12:41,240 of beings from Mars. 211 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:50,120 Teotihuacan, Mexico. 212 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,380 In 2003, archeologists in this ancient city 213 00:12:55,980 --> 00:12:58,160 made a startling discovery. 214 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,140 A previously unknown tunnel lies 45 feet 215 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,080 beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, 216 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,320 one of the most sacred pyramids on the continent. 217 00:13:11,140 --> 00:13:14,080 Working underground, scientists methodically 218 00:13:14,140 --> 00:13:18,060 explored the debris-filled tunnel using a robotic probe 219 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,120 with an infrared scanner. 220 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:25,220 After some 250 feet, they reached a side cave. 221 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,360 JOHN BRANDENBURG: The tail end of the tunnel-- terminus 222 00:13:28,420 --> 00:13:32,100 of the tunnel was loaded with yellowish, metallic-looking 223 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,160 orbs, apparently colored clay. 224 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,260 EDWIN BARNHART: The orbs are very interesting objects. 225 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:41,960 I've never seen anything like them 226 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,020 in any kind of other archeological context. 227 00:13:46,260 --> 00:13:48,240 On the inside, they are clay. 228 00:13:48,380 --> 00:13:53,000 On the outside, they're coated with some sort of gold flecks, 229 00:13:53,060 --> 00:13:55,400 so they look like golden balls. 230 00:13:56,380 --> 00:14:00,060 NARRATOR: What purpose these golden balls served is unknown. 231 00:14:00,260 --> 00:14:03,140 But some archeologists believe the cavern 232 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,380 in which they were found was a place of sacred ritual. 233 00:14:08,420 --> 00:14:11,160 Like the clay balls, the walls were 234 00:14:11,220 --> 00:14:13,200 also covered in gold flecks. 235 00:14:13,340 --> 00:14:17,240 So if the cavern was illuminated by a torch during a ceremony, 236 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,280 it would have shimmered with 1,000 points of light, 237 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,000 resembling the cosmos. 238 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,200 DAVID WILCOCK: These beautiful orbs of yellow material 239 00:14:30,260 --> 00:14:35,020 strongly suggest that someone was illustrating planets. 240 00:14:36,940 --> 00:14:41,980 We do know that the Mayan calendar is heavily calibrated 241 00:14:42,180 --> 00:14:46,180 to the orbital parameters of the planets in our solar system, 242 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:48,280 specifically the inner planets. 243 00:14:51,100 --> 00:14:52,300 NARRATOR: The red planet's connection 244 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,200 to the Mayan calendar is portrayed in the Dresden Codex. 245 00:14:58,020 --> 00:15:00,200 This rare book from Mayan antiquity 246 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:02,320 describes the calendar in relation 247 00:15:02,380 --> 00:15:05,140 to Mars' movements across the sky. 248 00:15:05,940 --> 00:15:10,040 The Dresden Codex is one of four remaining books 249 00:15:10,260 --> 00:15:11,420 that the Maya wrote. 250 00:15:12,140 --> 00:15:16,280 It is, in many regards, an astronomical almanac. 251 00:15:16,380 --> 00:15:19,320 There are many different sections 252 00:15:19,380 --> 00:15:23,140 of the book that talk about different astronomical phenomena. 253 00:15:23,300 --> 00:15:26,020 One of them is the planet Mars. 254 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:31,980 There is an almanac near the end of the book that breaks up days 255 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:37,260 into 10 groups of 78 days, equaling 780 days, 256 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:43,020 which is the cyanotic period of Mars-- in other words, the time 257 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,180 in which it takes Mars to get back 258 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:49,260 to the same place on the horizon from a human perspective. 259 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:57,140 NARRATOR: Scholars believe Mars played 260 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,060 an important role in the Maya astrology that's 261 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,320 described in the Dresden Codex. 262 00:16:03,060 --> 00:16:06,060 Above that Almanac is a sky band 263 00:16:06,220 --> 00:16:09,940 shown with various aspects of celestial symbols 264 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,300 we recognize out of hieroglyphs. 265 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,360 And hanging off of it is this interesting 266 00:16:15,940 --> 00:16:17,380 dragon-like creature. 267 00:16:18,260 --> 00:16:23,180 That dragon-like creature is recognized as the face of Mars. 268 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:29,980 NARRATOR: Why did the planet Mars feature so 269 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:32,180 prominently in Maya astronomy? 270 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,960 Ancient astronaut theorists suggest the answer may be found 271 00:16:38,100 --> 00:16:40,100 in a little known myth surrounding 272 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,020 the story of the feathered serpent god, 273 00:16:44,420 --> 00:16:47,220 whose temple sits above the secret tunnel 274 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,380 that contains the golden orbs. 275 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,020 In the Mayan tradition, their great god, often pictured 276 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,080 as a feathered serpent, was said to have 277 00:16:58,140 --> 00:17:01,260 been responsible for the death of the god of Mars. 278 00:17:01,980 --> 00:17:04,260 Flayed him to death. That's stripping off the skin. 279 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:08,080 It's a horrific ritual that was actually done 280 00:17:08,140 --> 00:17:09,320 in other ways in that culture. 281 00:17:09,380 --> 00:17:12,180 But the idea is, death by that means 282 00:17:12,980 --> 00:17:15,280 absorbs the power of the enemy. 283 00:17:16,380 --> 00:17:21,080 But the name of the god also is associated with the comets. 284 00:17:23,340 --> 00:17:26,160 EDWIN BARNHART: There are certain drawings that 285 00:17:26,220 --> 00:17:29,140 show comets that look like they have 286 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:30,940 feathers coming off the back. 287 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,020 The flames are depicted as feathers. 288 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:36,180 And some scholars believe there's 289 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,320 a connection between the look of the flying feathered serpent 290 00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:42,180 and these comets. 291 00:17:44,100 --> 00:17:46,300 NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Mayan myth 292 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:50,320 of the feathered serpent describes an actual event, 293 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,240 a cataclysmic comet strike that destroyed 294 00:17:55,300 --> 00:17:57,280 the Martian atmosphere? 295 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,140 After studying the red planet for decades, 296 00:18:11,260 --> 00:18:14,240 mainstream scientists admit it's entirely 297 00:18:14,300 --> 00:18:19,040 possible this impact occurred on Mars in the distant past. 298 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:23,960 JOHN BRANDENBURG: If you look at the Martian landscape, 299 00:18:24,020 --> 00:18:26,220 it's heavily cratered compared to Earth. 300 00:18:26,940 --> 00:18:30,140 Mars is next to the asteroid belt. In fact, in some ways, 301 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,340 it defines the inner edge of the asteroid belt. 302 00:18:32,940 --> 00:18:35,240 So Mars is constantly being hammered 303 00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:38,100 by asteroids relative to Earth. 304 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,300 You always have the risk, and of course we've seen that here 305 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,160 on Earth, of having large asteroids 306 00:18:46,220 --> 00:18:49,020 or comets hit the planet and cause 307 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,380 tremendous ecological damage. 308 00:18:52,260 --> 00:18:56,200 The most famous example of that is the Chicxulub asteroid 309 00:18:56,260 --> 00:18:59,160 that may or may not have been the final nail 310 00:18:59,220 --> 00:19:01,100 in the dinosaurs' coffin. 311 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,300 And certainly that could have happened at Mars because it 312 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:08,400 doesn't have a large moon to help shield the planet 313 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,240 and possibly deflect asteroids. 314 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,320 NARRATOR: In his book, "Life and Death on Mars," 315 00:19:17,980 --> 00:19:21,020 physicist John Brandenburg describes an impact 316 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,200 crater in the Leo region of Mars that's more 317 00:19:24,260 --> 00:19:27,200 than 125 miles in diameter. 318 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:29,960 He believes this comet strike may 319 00:19:30,020 --> 00:19:31,380 have caused a profound disruption 320 00:19:31,940 --> 00:19:34,100 to Mars' planetary system. 321 00:19:34,380 --> 00:19:37,320 JOHN BRANDENBURG: It's a large double ring crater. 322 00:19:37,380 --> 00:19:39,400 Only, this happened to a planet that only gets 323 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:41,280 half the sunlight of Earth. 324 00:19:41,340 --> 00:19:43,320 It has one quarter of the surface area. 325 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,220 So this would have been an absolutely devastating 326 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,000 planet climate-changing event. 327 00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:51,360 SETH SHOSTAK: There may have been a very dramatic event 328 00:19:51,420 --> 00:19:54,180 where some other leftover piece from the birth 329 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:56,120 of the solar system, some big asteroid, 330 00:19:56,180 --> 00:19:59,420 sort of made a close flyby, sort of a fender bender collision 331 00:19:59,980 --> 00:20:02,320 with Mars and just stripped off a lot of the atmosphere. 332 00:20:02,380 --> 00:20:04,180 That's a very popular way to look at what 333 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:06,000 may have gone wrong with Mars. 334 00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:15,960 NARRATOR: But if Mars fostered life long ago, 335 00:20:16,060 --> 00:20:19,260 before losing its atmosphere, could intelligent life 336 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,260 and perhaps even civilization have existed and even 337 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,380 flourished on the red planet? 338 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,940 And if so, where would the inhabitants 339 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,080 have gone after the cataclysm? 340 00:20:32,380 --> 00:20:34,940 Some say the answers to these questions 341 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:40,280 can be found in the origin story of Earth's first civilization. 342 00:20:48,140 --> 00:20:51,160 Mosul, Iraq, 1849. 343 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,240 During an excavation of the biblical city of Nineveh, 344 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,260 a team led by the eminent British archeologist Austin 345 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:04,340 Henry Layard discovered the ruins of the ancient Assyrian 346 00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:07,260 library of Ashurbanipal. 347 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:10,920 Among the priceless relics Layard 348 00:21:10,980 --> 00:21:15,200 recovered from the library is a series of cuneiform tablets 349 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:20,180 called the "Enuma Eilish," also known as the Seven Tablets 350 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:21,900 of Creation. 351 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,000 M.J. EVANS: The tablets are essentially 352 00:21:25,060 --> 00:21:31,060 text in columnar style, no more than 8 to 10 inches tall, 353 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,960 6 to 7 inches wide, which were made of clay. 354 00:21:36,020 --> 00:21:39,160 And while the clay was just in the process of setting, 355 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,100 a stylus would be used by a trained 356 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:47,360 scribe to etch the stories of our existence on this planet. 357 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,020 NARRATOR: The Seven Tablets of Creation 358 00:21:53,140 --> 00:21:55,160 tell a story about a group of gods 359 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,880 called the Anunnaki who came from heaven to give 360 00:21:58,940 --> 00:22:00,920 birth to the human race. 361 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,260 But some ancient astronaut theorists 362 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,020 believe the original translations, completed 363 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,920 in the 19th century by some of the best scholars of the day, 364 00:22:10,140 --> 00:22:11,320 are flawed. 365 00:22:12,140 --> 00:22:13,940 ERICH VON DANIKEN: The professors, certainly 366 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,100 brilliant brains, had no idea of space travel, 367 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,260 not to speak of extraterrestrials. 368 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:24,960 So they all, without exception, made the translations 369 00:22:25,060 --> 00:22:27,260 in the belief that the stories had 370 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,940 to do with the Almighty God. 371 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,880 In the old texts, we have, for example, a world like "heaven." 372 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,220 For example, Abraham was taken up to heaven 373 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,260 and brought back to Earth. 374 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,140 So we should change the word "heaven" into the word 375 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:47,920 "space," so it makes sense. 376 00:22:50,940 --> 00:22:53,320 NARRATOR: Using what they say is a more accurate translation 377 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,080 of this origin myth, ancient astronaut theorists 378 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,160 believe the tablets tell a story about the Anunnaki 379 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:05,180 coming from the space to colonize both Mars and Earth. 380 00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:07,900 DAVID CHILDRESS: According to some researchers, 381 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,120 the Sumerians had a number of myths about Mars, 382 00:23:11,180 --> 00:23:16,340 including that the Anunnaki used Mars as a supply base 383 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,040 to come here to Earth. 384 00:23:20,180 --> 00:23:23,320 And subsequently, the Anunnaki then ruled the earth 385 00:23:23,940 --> 00:23:27,200 as these extraterrestrial god-kings, 386 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,280 while humans began to create the many civilizations 387 00:23:31,340 --> 00:23:32,900 on our planet. 388 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,180 And eventually, the Annunaki left 389 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,200 to go back to their own planet. 390 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:39,260 Or did they? 391 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,020 NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Anunnaki gods 392 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,060 in our ancient origin stories were actually 393 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:48,940 extraterrestrial beings and that they 394 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,060 created the structures that some believe they see on Mars? 395 00:23:55,340 --> 00:23:59,000 And if so, did they then journey to Earth? 396 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,140 DAVID WILCOCK: We see multiple references in the cuneiform 397 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,080 tablets that are allegedly the records of the Annunaki 398 00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:11,940 that, in fact, they did originate from Mars, 399 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,220 that this is not a dead, isolated, rocky world 400 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,980 with nothing on it, but there was life. 401 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,040 NARRATOR: But according to modern translation of Sumerian 402 00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:31,880 and Babylonian origin myths, a cataclysmic event 403 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,320 occurred on Mars, an event that sounds remarkably 404 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,200 similar to ancient Mesoamerican myths 405 00:24:38,300 --> 00:24:41,340 about a feathered serpent flaying the red planet. 406 00:24:43,020 --> 00:24:45,200 DAVID CHILDRESS: While the Annunaki were using Mars 407 00:24:45,260 --> 00:24:48,960 as a supply base for Earth, at some point 408 00:24:49,020 --> 00:24:50,920 there was a catastrophe. 409 00:24:51,060 --> 00:24:54,900 There was some asteroid/comet strike on Mars. 410 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,900 It ripped the atmosphere from Mars. 411 00:25:02,220 --> 00:25:04,140 It changed the climate. 412 00:25:04,260 --> 00:25:07,220 And Mars couldn't be used as a habitable space 413 00:25:07,340 --> 00:25:09,920 base for the Anunnaki anymore. 414 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,360 And so therefore, as we explore Mars more and more, 415 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:18,180 we may find structures, pyramids, ziggurats, 416 00:25:18,900 --> 00:25:23,240 even giant statues carved into rock on Mars, which are really 417 00:25:23,300 --> 00:25:26,260 relics of the Anunnaki and the time 418 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,980 when they occupied that planet. 419 00:25:30,340 --> 00:25:33,160 GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Some have suggested that Mars may have 420 00:25:33,220 --> 00:25:36,120 had an atmosphere, and it got annihilated 421 00:25:36,180 --> 00:25:38,980 about 65 million years ago. 422 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,960 What some have suggested is that before this annihilation 423 00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:48,080 occurred, that that civilization was able to escape to Earth. 424 00:25:49,180 --> 00:25:54,100 Now, according to this view, we might in fact be the Martians. 425 00:25:58,300 --> 00:26:01,920 NARRATOR: Scientists say they've found powerful evidence 426 00:26:01,980 --> 00:26:03,940 of this lost civilization. 427 00:26:04,140 --> 00:26:07,940 They believe they may have discovered a nuclear signature 428 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,880 in the Martian atmosphere that matches 429 00:26:10,940 --> 00:26:13,220 Earth's after a nuclear test. 430 00:26:16,020 --> 00:26:17,120 During the height of the Cold War, 431 00:26:17,180 --> 00:26:20,280 we were detonating a very large hydrogen bonds in the open air. 432 00:26:20,940 --> 00:26:24,360 And it produces a gas called xenon 129. 433 00:26:26,020 --> 00:26:30,040 On Mars, we've also found a lot of xenon 129. 434 00:26:30,940 --> 00:26:34,260 The only process we know to produce this xenon 129 435 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,340 is a nuclear explosion. 436 00:26:40,140 --> 00:26:44,960 So apparently, a very large nuclear weapon or weapons 437 00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:47,080 was detonated on Mars. 438 00:26:48,300 --> 00:26:51,120 If we look at the Sumerian cuneiform tablets, 439 00:26:51,180 --> 00:26:54,920 there are very clear references to a variety of advanced 440 00:26:54,980 --> 00:26:56,260 forms of technology. 441 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:58,880 And it would seem pretty clear that if we were 442 00:26:58,940 --> 00:27:02,200 able to get a nuclear bomb, then why couldn't a civilization 443 00:27:02,260 --> 00:27:04,100 that was superior to our own have 444 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:06,080 developed the same technology? 445 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,320 There is a Sumerian myth concerning 446 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,000 the planet Mars having to do with some colossal battle 447 00:27:13,060 --> 00:27:14,100 of the gods. 448 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,260 So there is elements in mythology 449 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,320 that look very much like descriptions of nuclear war. 450 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:27,880 NARRATOR: Signs of a possible nuclear blast, 451 00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:31,100 myths of a comet flame the planet, 452 00:27:32,260 --> 00:27:34,940 and a controversial NASA experiment 453 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,120 that may have found life-- 454 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:42,200 could these really be traces of an ancient alien civilization 455 00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:43,900 on Mars? 456 00:27:44,180 --> 00:27:47,000 And if so, is it possible there are 457 00:27:47,060 --> 00:27:50,060 artificial structures buried beneath the surface, 458 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:52,000 even to this day? 459 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:04,860 The Ares Vallis region of Mars, July 4, 1997-- 460 00:28:07,020 --> 00:28:10,880 NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft lands on the red planet. 461 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,880 The first probe to reach the Martian 462 00:28:14,940 --> 00:28:19,100 surface since Viking, Pathfinder will look for signs of water. 463 00:28:25,820 --> 00:28:28,260 Since the Viking missions in the 1970s, 464 00:28:28,900 --> 00:28:31,280 mainstream scientists have come to the conclusion 465 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,200 that the planet may have once boasted oceans 466 00:28:34,260 --> 00:28:37,820 full of water and complex life. 467 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,020 Billions of years ago, early in the history 468 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:45,120 of the solar system, Mars probably looked, in many ways, 469 00:28:45,180 --> 00:28:46,960 the way the Earth did. 470 00:28:48,860 --> 00:28:51,220 It did build up an atmosphere and oceans. 471 00:28:52,300 --> 00:28:56,160 The atmosphere probably would have been equivalent to Earth's 472 00:28:56,220 --> 00:28:57,980 atmosphere at that time. 473 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,100 Life could well have formed in the oceans. 474 00:29:05,940 --> 00:29:08,220 NARRATOR: One day after Pathfinder touched down, 475 00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:12,200 the Sojourner Rover began exploring the Martian surface 476 00:29:12,260 --> 00:29:14,860 for signs of these ancient lifeforms, 477 00:29:15,020 --> 00:29:18,920 using an X-ray spectrometer and a high-powered camera. 478 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:26,220 What they discovered was yes, Mars, in certain places, 479 00:29:26,900 --> 00:29:29,960 looks like the high desert on Earth. 480 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,200 And maybe there are areas which do 481 00:29:34,260 --> 00:29:37,000 seem to be dried out riverbeds. 482 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,920 Maybe there's water under the surface. 483 00:29:41,900 --> 00:29:43,080 The thing we've learned from the rovers that's 484 00:29:43,140 --> 00:29:45,880 most interesting, I think, is the fact 485 00:29:45,940 --> 00:29:48,980 that Mars once had a wet past. 486 00:29:49,860 --> 00:29:51,960 And if there was liquid water on the surface of Mars long 487 00:29:52,020 --> 00:29:54,060 enough, not just for a couple of weeks, a couple of years, 488 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,880 a couple of thousand years, but for millions of years, 489 00:29:56,940 --> 00:29:58,920 hundreds of millions of years, maybe something cooked 490 00:29:58,980 --> 00:30:01,100 up in that liquid, maybe life. 491 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:05,160 NARRATOR: As the Pathfinder Rover snapped photographs 492 00:30:05,220 --> 00:30:09,100 of the Martian surface, it captured images of something 493 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,820 that puzzled some scientists, 494 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,140 a mountain range they nicknamed The Twin Peaks. 495 00:30:20,020 --> 00:30:23,020 In his book "Life and Death on Mars," 496 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:27,020 Dr. John Brandenburg says that because Mars has limited 497 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:32,100 volcanic and tectonic activity, it's an open question as to how 498 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,160 these mountains were formed. 499 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,200 This interesting formation is the tallest 500 00:30:40,260 --> 00:30:41,960 thing for hundreds of miles. 501 00:30:42,020 --> 00:30:44,020 Most of the volcanic activity on Mars 502 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,180 is concentrated in the Tharsis region. 503 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,960 How many miles away is that, approximately? 504 00:30:49,020 --> 00:30:51,000 -Oh, it's like 2,000 miles away. -All right. 505 00:30:51,060 --> 00:30:55,060 So-- so this area is not known for any volcanoes 506 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,920 -or anything like that. -No. 507 00:30:56,980 --> 00:31:00,060 And because we now know so much more about the climate of Mars 508 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,940 than we did 20 years ago, it had an ocean. 509 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,020 It had long periods, apparently, of liquid water 510 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:07,140 flowing on its surface. 511 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,860 So all of this causes us to look at everything on Mars 512 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,240 with new eyes. 513 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:17,140 And so we have these two interesting objects 514 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:18,980 that are conjoined. Not only 515 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,200 are they the tallest things for 200 miles, 516 00:31:21,260 --> 00:31:23,060 but they're linked to each other. 517 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:28,840 And this reminds me of what we have found on planet Earth. 518 00:31:29,060 --> 00:31:30,940 Now, there's alignment. 519 00:31:31,100 --> 00:31:32,200 Mm-hmm. 520 00:31:32,260 --> 00:31:34,280 JOHN BRADENBERG: And what's interesting, 521 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,060 this is the Giza Plateau from Egypt. 522 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,200 And it is near Cairo, which name in Arabic 523 00:31:42,260 --> 00:31:45,000 derives from the name ,, which means 524 00:31:45,060 --> 00:31:46,980 Camp of Mars, Place of Mars. 525 00:31:47,100 --> 00:31:49,040 -MAN: Very interesting. -Fascinating. 526 00:31:49,100 --> 00:31:52,940 And we also have found out recently that at one time 527 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,880 the Sphinx was covered with red paint. 528 00:31:57,860 --> 00:32:03,080 So imagine we are looking at the Giza complex 529 00:32:03,180 --> 00:32:04,240 and the Sphinx, 530 00:32:04,300 --> 00:32:07,840 and a million years of erosion has happened. 531 00:32:08,100 --> 00:32:11,880 Wouldn't these things all look kind of rounded and mounded 532 00:32:11,940 --> 00:32:14,240 like this? It's conjectural. 533 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,280 Now, notice over here, because it's the Giza Plateau, 534 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:21,000 we have the Sphinx. 535 00:32:21,060 --> 00:32:23,200 Has something similar been discovered 536 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,200 on Mars, specifically around The Twin Peaks area? 537 00:32:27,860 --> 00:32:30,200 Well, we have this strange object which is nearby. 538 00:32:30,260 --> 00:32:33,200 And we see that from space and also in the picture. 539 00:32:33,260 --> 00:32:36,840 And look at this at this alignment. 540 00:32:36,980 --> 00:32:38,920 Here is the Sphinx on Earth. 541 00:32:38,980 --> 00:32:40,200 Here's the pyramid. 542 00:32:42,220 --> 00:32:43,880 Here's is this object. 543 00:32:43,940 --> 00:32:46,960 And there is what looks like a mound of stuff. 544 00:32:47,020 --> 00:32:49,060 Who knows if it is degraded archaeology? 545 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,960 We must look at everything on Mars now with new eyes. 546 00:32:52,020 --> 00:32:53,920 In fact, when the Sphinx was originally 547 00:32:53,980 --> 00:32:58,040 found in modern times, it was buried up to its neck in rubble 548 00:32:58,820 --> 00:33:00,180 and was-- had to be excavated. 549 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,180 MAN: So something similar could be going on right here. 550 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:04,880 JOHN BRADENBERG: There could be a much larger 551 00:33:04,940 --> 00:33:06,260 structure buried beneath. 552 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,280 NARRATOR: Could The Twin Peaks be evidence 553 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:15,900 that an ancient civilization may have once existed on Mars, 554 00:33:17,900 --> 00:33:20,220 a civilization whose structures appear 555 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,880 to resemble those on Earth? 556 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,920 Ancient astronaut theorists say yes 557 00:33:27,100 --> 00:33:29,940 and that evidence for this startling conclusion 558 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,040 has been accumulating for four decades. 559 00:33:33,940 --> 00:33:35,280 When Viking orbiters 560 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:39,200 originally started taking pictures of the surface of Mars, 561 00:33:40,140 --> 00:33:43,980 they took pictures of very intriguing features 562 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,020 on the Plain of Cydonia. 563 00:33:47,100 --> 00:33:50,940 On July 25, 1976, they took a picture 564 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:55,980 of something that looked for all the world like a human face. 565 00:33:57,020 --> 00:33:59,880 The whole thing kind of blew up when a NASA project scientist 566 00:33:59,940 --> 00:34:02,120 named Toby Owen put a magnifying glass over a frame 567 00:34:02,180 --> 00:34:04,240 number named 35-A72. 568 00:34:04,900 --> 00:34:06,820 And said, hey, look at this. 569 00:34:06,980 --> 00:34:09,820 NASA actually held a press conference the next day, 570 00:34:09,940 --> 00:34:11,300 where Owen and Gerald Soffen, who 571 00:34:11,860 --> 00:34:13,920 was the chief Viking project scientist, said, you know, 572 00:34:13,980 --> 00:34:17,000 isn't it peculiar what tricks of light and shadow can do? 573 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:19,200 The whole thing kind of went away a couple hours later 574 00:34:19,260 --> 00:34:21,180 when we took another picture. 575 00:34:21,980 --> 00:34:24,120 The problem with that is that a couple hours 576 00:34:24,180 --> 00:34:27,880 later, the Viking orbiter was nowhere near Cydonia, 577 00:34:27,940 --> 00:34:28,880 and it was dark. 578 00:34:28,940 --> 00:34:31,080 So there's no way, that picture could have ever existed. 579 00:34:33,140 --> 00:34:36,100 NARRATOR: Some believe they found not only a human face 580 00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:41,220 carved into Martian rock, but also a pyramid, a cliff, 581 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,260 in fact, an entire city buried by thousands 582 00:34:45,820 --> 00:34:47,920 of years of sand and soil. 583 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,020 By the late 1980s, one researcher 584 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:53,960 had even discovered what he thought 585 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:58,060 were mathematical relationship among the features of Cydonia. 586 00:34:58,820 --> 00:35:01,900 A cartographer and satellite imagery expert from the Defense 587 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,140 Mapping Agency named Erol Torun took a look at the pyramid 588 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:07,240 and concluded that it was what he called 589 00:35:07,300 --> 00:35:10,100 the Rosetta Stone of Mars. 590 00:35:10,820 --> 00:35:13,300 He found a bunch of mathematical relationships that pointed 591 00:35:13,860 --> 00:35:15,940 to other objects in the area that he thought 592 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,200 were artificial looking. 593 00:35:17,260 --> 00:35:19,040 They included the face, an object 594 00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:20,820 called The Cliff, which is a straight line that 595 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,980 goes on for hundreds of meters, a rounded mound called 596 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:26,000 The Tholus, which appears to have a pathway that 597 00:35:26,060 --> 00:35:27,120 goes up to the top. 598 00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:31,160 NARRATOR: More than 20 years after the Viking mission, 599 00:35:31,260 --> 00:35:35,900 NASA rephotographed the Cydonia region in 1998 600 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,140 and again in 2001. 601 00:35:39,300 --> 00:35:42,260 The face no longer looked human. 602 00:35:43,100 --> 00:35:46,200 But some scientists believe that was because of wind 603 00:35:46,260 --> 00:35:49,900 and how NASA took the newer pictures. 604 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:52,060 DAVID CHILDRESS: They shot it from the side. 605 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:53,880 They shot at it morning. 606 00:35:53,940 --> 00:35:56,020 It was as much a different viewing 607 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,940 geometry and lighting geometry as possible 608 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,100 from the original pictures. 609 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:05,160 Based on that evidence, the face on Mars, 610 00:36:05,300 --> 00:36:09,940 the evidence of past climate on Mars, a past ocean, 611 00:36:10,260 --> 00:36:14,160 I have concluded that Mars was apparently the home 612 00:36:14,220 --> 00:36:16,820 of a civilization in the past. 613 00:36:18,060 --> 00:36:20,980 NARRATOR: Is it possible that an alien civilization 614 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,080 existed on Mars in the distant past 615 00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:27,060 and built the structures that recent Martian 616 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,160 probes have photographed? 617 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:33,140 If so, does the government know more 618 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:37,320 than it's telling us about life and death on the red planet? 619 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:51,120 Washington, DC, August 7, 1996-- 620 00:36:52,060 --> 00:36:54,140 on the South Lawn of the White House, 621 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,200 30 years after NASA announced the Viking mission had not 622 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,140 found evidence of life on Mars, President Bill Clinton 623 00:37:02,780 --> 00:37:05,180 held an historic press conference to announce 624 00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:07,200 some momentous news. 625 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:12,160 Microbial life may exist on the red planet after all. 626 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:16,100 Scientists had found what they believed 627 00:37:16,220 --> 00:37:20,060 to be fossilized remains on a Martian meteorite that crashed 628 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:22,980 to Earth 12,000 years ago. 629 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,840 It must be confirmed by other scientists. 630 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,960 But clearly, the fact that something of this magnitude 631 00:37:33,020 --> 00:37:37,840 is being explored is another vindication of America's space 632 00:37:37,900 --> 00:37:40,920 program and our continuing support for it, even 633 00:37:40,980 --> 00:37:42,960 in these tough financial times. 634 00:37:43,100 --> 00:37:46,820 There was enormous excitement over this discovery. 635 00:37:47,140 --> 00:37:51,000 Based on the chemical composition of the meteorite, 636 00:37:51,140 --> 00:37:53,900 we could tell that it was from Mars. 637 00:37:54,820 --> 00:37:58,880 Inside the rock, researchers found different chemicals 638 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,140 and, in particular, different physical shapes 639 00:38:02,820 --> 00:38:07,900 of objects that looked extremely similar to microorganisms 640 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:09,200 here on Earth. 641 00:38:12,020 --> 00:38:14,900 NARRATOR: Soon after the president's press conference, 642 00:38:15,860 --> 00:38:19,780 scientists began to backpedal on whether the meteorite 643 00:38:19,860 --> 00:38:22,020 actually showed signs of life. 644 00:38:22,220 --> 00:38:25,920 They said the original team of experts may have been wrong. 645 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:31,860 The image certainly looks like some kind of a microorganism. 646 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:36,840 But the opponents said the microorganism remains 647 00:38:36,900 --> 00:38:41,020 are too small to have DNA to be inside it, 648 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,020 and therefore it can't be a fossil. 649 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,980 Since then, microorganisms have been found that small 650 00:38:52,100 --> 00:38:54,760 which have DNA in them. 651 00:38:56,020 --> 00:38:58,180 But it has not been resolved. 652 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,080 NARRATOR: But given the controversy surrounding 653 00:39:03,140 --> 00:39:06,980 the possibility that life may have been discovered on Mars, 654 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,860 starting with the Viking mission of the 1970s 655 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,100 and continuing to the present day, 656 00:39:14,980 --> 00:39:19,880 some scientists say NASA almost seems to be avoiding the issue. 657 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,760 The Space Agency has never retried 658 00:39:24,820 --> 00:39:28,760 Gil Levin's test for signs of life on the red planet. 659 00:39:32,180 --> 00:39:36,140 It is very puzzling as to why NASA 660 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,980 has refused to send life detection 661 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,100 experiments back to Mars. 662 00:39:42,860 --> 00:39:47,000 My experiment discovered the most remarkable thing yet 663 00:39:47,060 --> 00:39:49,940 know about Mars, that there's something 664 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,100 highly reactive in the soil, chemical or biological. 665 00:39:54,860 --> 00:39:57,800 But we really should find out what it is. 666 00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:02,840 It is startling that NASA has made no attempt 667 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,860 to determine that issue. 668 00:40:08,780 --> 00:40:13,080 I truly think NASA knows there is life on Mars. 669 00:40:13,820 --> 00:40:16,880 But for some reason unbeknownst to me, 670 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:20,200 it does not want that information out. 671 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:30,780 NARRATOR: Has NASA found definitive signs of life 672 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:32,780 on Mars that they're intentionally 673 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:34,180 keeping from the public? 674 00:40:35,100 --> 00:40:37,820 And if so, have they found evidence 675 00:40:37,940 --> 00:40:41,980 that an advanced civilization once lived on the red planet? 676 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:45,060 Some ancient astronaut theorists believe 677 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:48,900 they have and as evidence point to a report commissioned 678 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,140 by NASA in 1960 679 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:56,920 that offers advice for how to reveal 680 00:40:56,980 --> 00:41:00,800 the news if the American space program should ever find 681 00:41:00,860 --> 00:41:03,060 proof of extraterrestrial life. 682 00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,780 The so-called Brookings Report essentially said that 683 00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,760 in your travels throughout the solar system, 684 00:41:11,900 --> 00:41:14,920 there is a distinct possibility that you will discover 685 00:41:14,980 --> 00:41:17,820 artifacts, that you will actually discover evidence 686 00:41:17,980 --> 00:41:23,240 of an ancient alien presence on Venus, on the moon, or on Mars. 687 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,940 And the implications of such an announcement, if it were made, 688 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:32,760 would be potentially devastating to the human race. 689 00:41:32,820 --> 00:41:33,760 It could be catastrophic. 690 00:41:33,820 --> 00:41:36,020 In fact, it used the word disintegrate. 691 00:41:38,100 --> 00:41:40,040 I would imagine that would be something that would 692 00:41:40,100 --> 00:41:41,980 be kept secret for a while. 693 00:41:43,240 --> 00:41:46,140 I don't think it's a bunch of men sitting in the room 694 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:48,100 and then smoking cigarettes and saying, 695 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:49,860 we're going to keep this secret. 696 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:51,880 But it is a responsibility. 697 00:41:51,940 --> 00:41:53,780 And I think that they would certainly 698 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:57,240 be very, very careful as to how to let out this knowledge. 699 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,040 NARRATOR: Is it possible that not just microbial life, 700 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,940 but also intelligent beings once called 701 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:14,060 the red planet their home? 702 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:18,020 And if so, what would that mean for the existence of life 703 00:42:18,140 --> 00:42:20,200 elsewhere in the cosmos? 704 00:42:22,860 --> 00:42:25,880 If life used to exist on Mars, particularly if it formed 705 00:42:25,940 --> 00:42:27,760 independently of Earth life, 706 00:42:29,860 --> 00:42:31,820 life in the universe is all over the place. 707 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:40,120 That means that of the billions of planets discovered now 708 00:42:41,820 --> 00:42:45,960 similar to Earth through our universe, many of them 709 00:42:46,060 --> 00:42:48,100 would have life on them. 710 00:42:49,860 --> 00:42:54,000 And if there is life different from life on Earth that 711 00:42:54,060 --> 00:42:56,240 has evolved, there would be every reason 712 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,880 to suspect such evolution would have gone on, 713 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:03,060 on countless other Earths and that there 714 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,960 would be intelligent life out there as well. 715 00:43:09,900 --> 00:43:11,220 We want there to be life on Mars. 716 00:43:11,780 --> 00:43:14,020 We want there to be life somewhere beyond here. 717 00:43:14,140 --> 00:43:17,760 We want that transcendent connection to the heavens. 718 00:43:17,980 --> 00:43:19,240 We don't want it to be invaders. 719 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,840 But we don't want to be alone in the universe. 720 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,160 NARRATOR: Are tales of life on Mars, 721 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:33,840 found in cultures across the world, simply mythology? 722 00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:38,940 Or might Martians really have visited 723 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,200 Earth in the distant past, as ancient astronaut 724 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:43,940 theorists suggest? 725 00:43:45,020 --> 00:43:48,060 If so, could there be evidence waiting to be 726 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:49,920 discovered on the red planet? 727 00:43:51,860 --> 00:43:53,940 Perhaps with further missions to Mars, 728 00:43:54,140 --> 00:43:57,860 we'll find that not only was it home to alien beings 729 00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,200 thousands of years ago, but it still is 730 00:44:03,060 --> 00:44:04,020 today.