Original subtitles

- Since 1964, the United States long considered to

be the leader of the space race has spent $21 billion

on Mars exploration.

Since the sixties, only three countries,

the United States, the Soviet Union and China

have made soft landings on Mars.

The discovery of water sparked theories

that Mars supported a civilization billions of years ago,

making Mars the main mission of the modern space race.

The more we explore the red planet, the more the marvels

of Mars mystify the minds of scientists and truth seekers.

Could Mars be a future home

for humanity or could it hold answers

from an ancient civilization that just might save our own?

These are the "Alien Disclosure Files".

In 1996, a research team of NASA scientists

from the Johnson Space Center and Stanford University

found evidence that strongly suggested primitive life

may have existed on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago.

- It is well worth contemplating

how we reached this moment of discovery.

More than four billion years ago,

this piece of rock was formed

as a part of the original crust of Mars.

After billions of years, it broke from the surface

and began a 16 million year journey

through space that would end here on earth.

- [John Wells] The NASA funded team found

the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin.

- In '96, there was a big press announcement that some

of you may even remember in which we announced our findings.

- [John Wells] The minerals featured characteristics

of biological activity

with primitive bacteria like organisms inside

of an ancient Martian rock that fell

to earth as a meteorite.

- Appropriately. It was the first rock

to be picked up that year.

Rock number 84001.

If this discovery is confirmed,

it will surely be one of the most stunning insights

into our universe that science has ever uncovered.

- [John Wells] A rock, number 84001.

It wasn't exactly what the public and press wanted to see.

People wanted to see UFOs and aliens.

- [Dr. McKay] We argued that this suite

of features taken together provided possible evidence

for biology on Mars, ancient life on Mars.

- [Daniel Goldin] The scientists, again,

are not here to say they found ultimate proof or evidence

but the evidence they present will be exciting.

But a chain of circumstantial events,

it demands further scientific investigation.

We must investigate, evaluate, validate this discovery.

- [John Wells] The two year investigation was co-led

by planetary scientists, Dr. David McKay,

Dr. Everett Gibson, and Cathy Thomas Capretta

of Lockheed Martin.

It also featured a Stanford team headed

by professor of Chemistry, Dr. Richard Zare

and six other NASA and university research partners.

- And that was not really our intent

but that's what happened.

The press blew it up much more than what we had actually

said in the paper.

If you read the paper, it was fairly conservative.

And indeed that was a terrible circus with hundreds

of cameras and lots of questions.

And the head of NASA and a few skeptics.

- Life could have existed on early Mars

in the first half of its history, and in fact,

it could have predated life on earth.

Every now and then, an asteroid collides

with Mars and could have lifted a piece

of rock that included microbes.

And these were tiny astronauts that came

to earth on these rocks.

And so that, it's quite possible

that life was planted on Earth and it started on Mars first.

So we are all Martians.

- [John Wells] The findings were further scrutinized

by many in the scientific community.

- You have of course the community of believers

that may represent extraterrestrial civilizations.

There is the community of skeptics

and that includes scientists that dismiss this subject.

But I'm trying to do what seems to me like common sense.

Let's walk in the middle, collect the data

and then make statements based on this data.

And unfortunately, common sense is not common.

- [John Wells] The discovery built upon

the Viking missions of the 1970s.

Viking One and Two were the first manmade probes to land

on Mars and send back images of its surface.

But the Viking landers didn't just send back images.

They also seemed to confirm

that Mars had once harbored life.

Or did they?

- We know they discovered life on Mars in 1976.

They engineered tests that they sent

with the Viking Lander to determine

if there was life on Mars

and if there was evidence in the soil.

These tests came back positive.

They said, "Yes, they are positive

in two out of three of the tests

and therefore there is evidence of life on Mars."

But when NASA got the results,

they changed the rules of the test.

- [John Wells] In 1996, the evidence of life on Mars again

appeared to be conclusive before once again

becoming less so.

- A meteorite found

in Antarctica appeared to have the remnants of life in it,

microscopic fossils that supposedly indicated

that there was life off the planet.

Bill Clinton went public with an announcement.

NASA went public with an announcement

but then they walked the whole thing back.

- [John Wells] Was NASA hiding something

about the red planet?

Was the government?

What they couldn't hide was the presence

of water on our nearest planetary neighbor.

And where there is water, there is life.

So the answers are quickly coming to the surface.

- And early on, you know, in the first half of its life,

in the first 2 billion years, there were oceans on Mars.

We see the evidence for that.

If you look at the latest images

from the Perseverance rover that NASA sent to Mars

you can see, you know, the ground being very similar

to what you find near rivers that dried up on earth.

You know, it, it really looks

as if there was liquid water on the surface.

And what happened on Mars is that it lost its atmosphere.

- [John Wells] For many ufologists,

these discoveries only raised more questions.

Could Mars have once been home to an ancient civilization?

And if so, what happened to them?

There was no doubt that

if their world had once been inhabitable,

it was now an inhospitable desert.

- Could there have been an advanced civilization

living there when it happened?

Capable possibly of nuclear war?

- Perhaps the answers to what happened to the original

inhabitants of Mars can be found with further exploration

of the desolate surface.

In fact, in May, 2022, the Curiosity rover may have

uncovered a clue to their whereabouts

when it sent back this image.

Could the answers lie behind the mysterious doorway?

(ominous music)

The Mars of 4 billion years ago

would've looked very familiar to earthlings today.

- Before the magnetic field on Mars significantly weakened,

it's conceivable that conditions could have been more

favorable for the existence of life as the magnetic field

would've provided better protection against solar radiation.

This could have potentially allowed for the preservation

of liquid water on the Martian surface

and increased the chance of habitability.

- [John Wells] Just as the earth was beginning to cool

and develop its first oceans,

the Martian core was cooling, shutting down the dynamo

that sustained its magnetic field.

That left the planet vulnerable to the solar wind

which clawed away the atmosphere

and allowed the Martian water to evaporate into space.

The planet became a desert.

- It's not realistic to live

on the surface of Mars at the current condition.

So a much better approach is, you know, to go into caves

because there are these lava tubes are found in Hawaii.

You know, for example, on earth, they're found on the moon.

Basically when there was volcanic activity, you know,

there were these streams of lava,

very hot, basaltic flows and they cooled on the surface.

So you end up getting a roof ceiling of crust.

And then under that,

there is still a flow that empties eventually.

So you end up with a tunnel, with a tube,

and if you go into those tubes

you can be protected from energetic particles.

Also, the temperature variations will be moderated.

So these lava tubes are the best locations

for humans to occupy and build cities

in them on the surface of Mars.

And you know, it's really ironic

because prehistoric humans started

in caves and with post historic humans,

you know, like in the future, living in caves.

- [John Wells] Could caves have provided the doorway

to survival for Martians?

An ancient civilization doomed by its planet's small size

and inability to sustain a magnetic field

might have found protection and shelter

from a radioactive wasteland in the caves below the surface.

On May 7th, 2022, the 3466th Martian day

of a mission that was supposed to only last a year,

the Curiosity Rover captured this image of what

appeared to be a handcrafted doorway leading into a cave.

- The doorways have buried distinct moldings

and sharp edges.

They look very much like the doorways

during the Roman Empire or even Egyptian designs.

- [John Wells] After carefully examining the photo

from the rover, there appeared to be many doors

and small entrances.

- The doorways were found to be smaller in size

than the average human being, and more like a doggy door

if you will.

Could this mean that Martians were small beings

- [John Wells] And then there is Cydonia.

It was on those same Viking missions

in the seventies that we got our first close images

of the famous face on Mars located

in the Martian region known as Cydonia.

Many ufologists believe this is the former home

of a thriving ancient Martian civilization

now buried beneath the surface of the the red planet.

They also believe it could be ground zero

for a nuclear explosion that ended that civilization.

Was the magnetic field damaged

as a result of this explosion?

And who benefits from covering this explosive theory up?

(ominous music)

Cydonia could once have been a beautiful coastal retreat

in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

In those days, the Martian face might have towered

above the Martian oceans.

First observed by Viking One in its initial Mars orbit

in 1976, the Cydonian face is actually a remnant massif

or clump of mountains.

It was NASA that first pointed out

that the rock formation looked like a human head.

- These claims have fueled various theories

and interpretations suggesting the presence

of artificial structures or evidence

of past or current intelligent life on Mars.

- [John Wells] Viking One also seemed to show pyramid-like

structures with flattened tops in the Cydonia region.

The pyramids paralleled those found in ancient civilizations

on earth, such as in Egypt or Mesoamerica.

And ancient Martian civilization may have

built these structures

for ceremonial, cultural or practical purposes.

- The loss of that magnetic field also exposed Mars surface

to increased levels of radiation from space.

This radiation includes cosmic rays, high energy particles

from the sun, which can have detrimental effects

on biological organisms and geological processes.

- If they had been able to build pyramids, how advanced

could an ancient Martian civilization have become?

Could they have developed nuclear technology?

A nuclear apocalypse would be powerful enough

to damage the Martian magnetic field

and send life scattering underground.

Based on the current condition of the Martian surface,

some kind of nuclear event does seem plausible.

- People studying Mars generally agree

that there was a big cataclysm that happened to the planet.

It bolsters the evidence

that there was a nuclear event on Mars.

Now, was it the people

of Mars that actually created that or were they attacked

by a more advanced civilization in outer space?

We don't know, but some people believe

that the descendants of Martians are us.

- [John Wells] If Martian life were anything like earth,

a political, cultural or religious divide could have caused

the kind of nuclear event that the earth

has only narrowly avoided itself in the past.

- An ancient Martian civilization could have

developed advanced technologies,

potentially surpassing or paralleling our own.

They might have had sophisticated infrastructure,

transportation systems, communication networks

and energy sources.

- [John Wells] Ironically, some earthlings are looking

at Mars as an insurance policy

against our own tendency to self-destruction.

Billionaire Elon Musk is determined to build a city

on Mars with one million people by 2050.

- When Elon Musk wants to go back to Mars

it's just like, you know, us trying to get back

to our home where we were born.

You know, like it may be, you know, it's really ironic,

if you look, if there was a film of Mars,

let's say the fir first forms of life formed on Mars

then there were delivered to Earth with Martian rocks.

You know, it's much easier to bring life

from Mars to Earth than vice versa

because gravity on Mars is 38% of gravity on earth.

So it's easier for rocks to escape Mars.

So this film will start with life on Mars, deliver to Earth

and then somehow

on earth life becomes complex and intelligent.

And then you have Elon Musk wanting to go to Mars.

- Elon Musk believes that the survival of the human race

is contingent on us getting off planet earth.

And that makes a lot of sense.

Sooner or later the earth is going to be destroyed.

It might take billions of years.

It might not be us that does it, but it will happen.

So getting to another planet and becoming a space-faring

civilization is really important.

And Elon Musk says, and does and is moving

toward making Mars the first planet other

than Earth did humans inhabit

- [John Wells] Others, like former Canadian Defense Minister

Paul Hellyer, believe that we are already working

with extraterrestrial life on the surface

of Mars in some kind of galactic federation.

Could the wealthy

and powerful be harnessing this arrangement to

speed our colonization of the red planet?

- I believe that there's definitely has been communication

according to the research I've done with with visitors

and governments.

And definitely people like Elon Musk know more

than they probably let on.

And the governments probably know more than they let on.

(ominous music)

- [John Wells] Humans may be living on Mars

within the next decade.

With every rocket launch, we get a little closer.

- [Broadcaster] Launching the next generation

of robot explorers to the red planet.

What is behind the recent acceleration

of our moves toward Mars?

- If there is a Galactic Federation

it could explain why we are so bent

on going back to the red planet.

Was there an ancient civilization on Mars?

Could we be their descendants?

- [John Wells] The Galactic Federation seemed

like a fairytale for a long time.

That wasn't until just recently when two

credible witnesses stepped forward to confirm its existence.

One of those sources,

former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer,

was put on the record by a most unlikely journalist.

- My name is Devin Nicholson.

I'm also known as Hannibal and the Blood Hunter

as as wrestlers, I've two wrestling characters.

I've got a YouTube channel with about 400,000 subscribers,

almost 300 million total video views.

I've been interested in UFOs since about 2013 when

I heard a report about the Canadian government

admitting that there's more UFO sightings taking place.

However, they were not going to fund research

into this themselves.

(intense music)

- [John Wells] Devon's interview with Paul Hellyer has more

than a million views, but getting

to the truth for this truth seeker wasn't easy.

- So I had seen various interviews with Paul Hellyer.

I had seen him at a press conference where he said publicly

and I believe he was the highest official

to ever go on record saying at the time

that UFOs were as real as airplanes in the sky.

So I thought that I would try and get an interview with him.

So it took me about two, two and a half years

to finally get the interview with him.

- There have been face-to-face meetings

between United States officials and visitors

from other star systems, period, no equivocation.

And so with that assurance and my own conviction, based

on what I already knew, I said, I'll go to the meeting.

And at the meeting I said

that UFOs are as real as the airplanes flying overhead.

- I believe that former Canadian Defense Minister

Paul Hellyer a hundred percent believes what he told me

in that interview.

But I do believe that that a man

with his level of credibility would not go

on the record and risk his entire reputation

if he hadn't done the research

and heard it through enough horse's mouths to

believe it was credible enough to put his reputation

on the line of saying it himself.

- It's generally agreed that Mars is gonna be the first

planet that humanity puts a colony on.

The new technology, such as the web telescope

is pointing out the possibility

of numerous habitable planets throughout the galaxy.

- [John Wells] When humans inevitably set foot

on Mars and begin colonization, it may be

that we are really staging a homecoming

and returning to our ancestral homeland.

(intense music)

But even if we are not the children of Mars,

the red planet will always have a lot to teach us.

And perhaps its most important lesson is that

of the doorway, the escape hatch from nuclear war,

an ever present warning about our species'

constant threats of self-destruction.

(ominous music)