No Evidence That Humans Lived on Mars
The Claim
Humans once lived on Mars, but destroyed the planet during a nuclear war before coming to the Earth.
Emerging story
A circulating Tik Tok prompt posits the question, “What’s a conspiracy theory that absolutely blows your mind?” Last week, user crackheadjoedirt, responded by saying, “Human beings come from Mars. Crazy, I know, but hear me out.” He goes on to explain the theory in two parts: first, that Mars once had a natural water source, and second, that humans drained the planet’s natural resources, and destroyed it during nuclear war. This caused it to turn red after millions of years. The video has been watched over one million times.
A similar theory has been proposed by a single scientist, Dr. John Brandenburg, who made headlines in 2016 when he tried to convince the world that Mars experienced nuclear blasts from a hostile alien race. He published a research paper in 2020 claiming that the presence of an isotope called “Xenon 129” provides evidence of such nuclear blasts, and that the sites of these events are visible on any map of Mars.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation began by researching where the “Red Planet,” received its iconic hue. When iron is left in the elements, such as a mineral containing the element or an iron axe, they eventually rust. A recent NASA article titled “The Moon is Rusting, and Researchers Want to Know Why,” asserts that Mars’ red color is caused by rust from iron on its surface, combined with water and oxygen from the ancient past. The process is called “iron oxidation” and can occur aerobically or anaerobically (with or without oxygen present). Mars’ soil composition is 5 to 14 percent iron oxide, according to NASA mineral scientist Dr. Peter Curreri. NASA studied soil samples taken directly from Mars to reach these conclusions.
Additionally, scientists have detected no proof pointing to anything resembling nuclear explosions, or that liquid water was on Mars 3-4 billion years ago. Modern humans did not appear until 220 ka (550,000 to 180,000 years ago, during the Holocene and Pleistocene periods).
Like most conspiracy theories, well-worded “just hear me out” calls from the speaker can easily lead the listener to think it could be true. Scientists continue to look for signs of either present or past life on Mars, but nuclear war theories are not up for debate among most experts on the subject.
