ANCIENT NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST ON MARS OR CURRENT THREAT?

    A quick search of the Torah Code found ATOMIC HOLOCAUST in a 70-letter matrix with MARS at skip -1.  Odds against such a match were about 125 to 1.

   Although first published on April 1, 2011, on April 5, 2011, at FoxNews.com  (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/01/natural-nuclear-blast-mars/) I found an article about an ancient natural nuclear explosion on Mars. At first I thought it might be an April Fools joke. However, I called the main source, Dr. John Brandenburg, a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp., on April 6, 2011. He assured me that despite the unfortunate release date, the story was indeed legitimate. Dr. Brandenburg's paper was published by the 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in 2011. As such, I have now read his newest book:  LIFE AND DEATH ON MARS: THE NEW MARS SYNTHESIS and his earlier book, DEAD MARS, DYING EARTH. Both books will be discussed below.

The Fox News Article: Was There a Natural Nuclear Blast on Mars?

By John Brandon, Published April 01, 2011 (FoxNews.com)

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/01/natural-nuclear-blast-mars/#ixzz1Ifccm7Bp

         Ever wonder why the red planet is red? About 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet naturally occurring nuclear reaction may have wiped out everything on Mars, sending a shockwave that turned the planet into dry sand.

         Even more incredible: A natural nuclear reaction could have occurred on our own planet -- and could happen again, said Dr. John Brandenburg, a senior propulsion scientist at Orbital Technologies Corp. "The Martian surface is covered with a thin layer of radioactive substances including uranium, thorium and radioactive potassium -- and this pattern radiates from a hot spot [on Mars],” Brandenburg told FoxNews.com.

       “A nuclear explosion could have sent debris all around the planet," he said. "Maps of gamma rays on Mars show a big red spot that seems like a radiating debris pattern ... on the opposite side of the planet there is another red spot."

       The European Space Agency's Mars Express satellite just buzzed past the barren Phobos, the largest of Mars's tiny moons. Here's what the cameras captured. A NASA spacecraft has been beaming to Earth incredibly detailed pictures of the surface of Mars. And the beautiful colors and rich textures of the red planet will shock you.

       According to Brandenburg, the natural explosion, the equivalent of 1 million one-megaton hydrogen bombs, occurred in the northern Mare Acidalium region of Mars where there is a heavy concentration of radioactivity. This explosion filled the Martian atmosphere with radio-isotopes as well, which are seen in recent gamma ray spectrometry data taken by NASA, he said. 

       The radioactivity also explains why the planet looks red. Brandenburg said gamma ray spectrometry taken over the past few years shows spiking radiation from Xenon 129 -- an increase also seen on Earth after a nuclear reaction or a nuclear meltdown, including the one at Chernobyl in 1986 and the disaster in Japan earlier this month.

       Dr. David Beaty, Mars program science manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told FoxNews.com that he finds the idea intriguing and fascinating. But to prove the science, the agency would need to plan a mission to explore Mare Acidalium on Mars. And there are more pressing issues, including missions to find extraterrestrial life. “You have to assess the importance of the question relative to the cost of answering the question,” he said.

       Still, Beaty expressed doubts, saying the geological conditions on this planet and Mars have existed for millennia -- what exists has existed for a long time, and there are few sudden changes. “Rocks are what they are. [A natural nuclear reaction] could happen in another billion years, but it is not something to make you want to go home to your family and move to the mountains right away,” he said.

       Dr. Lars Borg, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, called Brandenburg’s conclusions unsurprising -- and part of known geological processes, not a nuclear reaction. "We've looked at Martian meteorites for 15 years, and looked in detail at the isotopic measurements .. and not a single person out of hundreds worrying about this have thought there could have been a nuclear explosion on Mars," he told FoxNews.com.

       Brandenburg -- who once worked at Livermore himself -- defended his research, arguing that defense experts he talked to off the record said they agreed there are signs of a nuclear reaction. Besides, there's a precedence for a natural nuclear reaction on our own planet, he noted. 

       The Oklo, Gabon, region of Africa has uranium-coated sediments from a nuclear reaction that occurred 2 billion years ago. A massive nuclear explosion on Mars would have created huge craters on the surface, visible from orbiting telescopes like Hubble and from the Mars rovers. Brandenburg said such craters could have filled in with sand over the past 180 million years, leaving no visual cues to prove the theory.

       Another possibility is that the reaction occurred in mid-air and did not leave a crater -- which is exactly what happened at the Tunguska event in Russia in 1909, presumably by a large comet.

       Harrison Schmitt, a geological expert and the last man to step out of the Apollo spacecraft on the moon, told FoxNews.com that there is “general validity” to Brandenburg’s theory. He said the nuclear reaction may not have been caused by an explosion, however, and might have occurred over time.

       Edward D. McCullough, a science and space consultant, agreed that the Mare Acidalium region of Mars does show some strange colors and terrain formations that seem unexplainable. “There seems to be a reasonable closure between the number of fissions required to produce the Xenon 129 enhancement and the amount of energy required to toss material to that point on Mars,” he said.

       “This massive nuclear explosion on Mars seems to defy natural explanation,” said Brandenburg.

WHAT IS THE AREA OF CONCERN ON MARS? Dr. Brandenburg points to Mare Acidalium. This is in the northeast portion of the western hemipshere of Mars between 300° and 360° East, and between 30° and 65° North. The famous "face" at Cydonia lies within this region at 40.75° North latitude and 350.54 degrees East (9.46° West) longitude. The face at Cydonia is shown on the cover of his newest book. 

WHO IS DR. JOHN BRANDENBURG? 

Before his current research at Orbital Technologies Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin his previous background from recent back to earlier years is as follows:

Additional data:

COMMENTARY ABOUT DR. BRANDENBURG'S TWO MARS BOOKS. The thrust of DEAD MARS, DYING EARTH is decidedly environmental. However on reading it my first concern related to all the time that my son and I have spent researching Martian atmospheric pressure. On pages 39-40 the author details concerns that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) deliberately altered the initial blue sky color (with greenish patches on rocks) seen by Viking 1 to a butterscotch sky color with rusty red rocks seen since then. Further, on page 41 he indicates that a few hours after the Cydonia face image was taken at local sunset in Cydonia, JPL lied to the public by indicating that a second image of the area, taken when it had to be dark at Cydonia, had shown the face had disappeared. JPL, he alleges, said the earlier image was obviously a trick of light and shadow. The immediate significance of this charge here is that we have solid proof that the pressure in Mars is a good bit higher than NASA argues. We know that Viking, PathFinder and Phoenix pressure measurements were flawed by clogged dust filters on the pressure transducers. It's one thing to argue about the poor design of the Tavis transducers used for the Vikings and Mars Pathfinder, and similar problems with the Vaisala transducer used for the Phoenix lander. But it's quite another to take on deliberate disinformation. After reading the accusations in Brandenburg's book and after he discussed with us the problems he encountered with JPL after he challenged their party line, I asked my son to at least temporarily remove anything that could be construed as political on his web site.  He has a career ahead of him. I'm retired, so I'll have to fight this particular battle at least until it is certain that my son will not work for NASA (currently up in the air).

      I’ve read both of Dr. Brandenburg’s books on Mars. Based on the similar titles, I expected that the second work would merely be an update of the first book. Happily, that turned out to be not the case. Both books are worth reading. As I indicated above, the first book focuses more on what is happening to the ecosystems on Earth, with hints provided that Mars was once like Earth, and it might have been destroyed in a way that we are duplicating here. But DEAD MARS, DYING EARTH really read much more like an ecological text book and argument for fusion as a solution to the energy crisis than a book primarily about Mars. It also made clear that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory does not take kindly to people who disagree about Martian weather, although NASA Ames has taken some bolder steps towards publishing the truth about Mars and overreliance on Viking era results. Recently it backed off the Viking conclusion about no organic chemistry on Mars, and NASA has even highlighted the discovery of “alien DNA” here on Earth.

       A true sense of the direction taken by DEAD MARS, DYING EARTH can be gained from its summary of what its author calls THE GARDEN EARTH ENTERPRISE in Chapter 12.  He makes nine key points with the first eight making sense, but the last one seemed a bit dated (the Peace Corps is now 50 years old).

1. Develop fusion power,

2. Develop practical electric cars and reinvigorate electric railroads worldwide (This is being done in Israel).

3. Pay rainforest nations for their oxygen production.

4. Develop solar energy (This is also being done in Israel).

5. Fund a vigorous space program to help prevent another Tunguska asteroid impact and to mine helium-3 to permit radiation-free fusion on Earth.

6. Ratify the Kyoto Protocol and quit complaining about it.

7. Move closer to nature and practice a lifestyle less dependent on oil and electricity.

8. Triage environmental problems.

9. Quadruple the size of the Peace Corps and expand its mission.

     His first book often discusses the issue of "carbon sinks" (places that absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide). It alerts us that the rain forests are rapidly declining carbon sinks, and it points out that where they are being burnt they are now putting more CO₂ into the air than they are removing. It also makes clear the possibility that the oceans may disgorge carbon dioxide in a manner similar to Lake Nyos in Cameron which in 1984 killed 1,700 people and 19,000 animals.  He links the steady rise in CO₂  to a persistent Oxygen Inventory Depletion (OID). 

       His second work, LIFE AND DEATH ON MARS, was a quick update of the true nature of Mars. Editing problems were somewhat of a distraction; however while reading it was more like reading the professor’s notes than reading a book, the “good stuff” (which starts with Mariner 9 on page 81) does a great job in taking us from the dismal lunar-like portrait painted by Mariner 4 to a world that is much more Earth-like.

     THE DEATH OF MARS. Brandenburg explains why our government was hesitant to start a spiritual crisis for humanity, or to risk a panic similar to that caused by the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds in 1938. But before driving home the evidence for the nuclear incident on Mars, he first tells us about a horrendous asteroid impact that occurred where we now find the Lyot crater at 50N, 330W, north of Arabia Terra and east of Mare Acidalium. That crater (200 km wide) is bigger than the Chicxulub basin on Earth - the impact site that resulted in extinction of the dinosaurs. Then he takes us through the second and largely fatal punch to Mars with a detailed explanation of why the argon 40 isotope found in abundance in the Martian atmosphere and the xenon 129 were problems – they are typical of what forms after a nuclear explosion. Initially we read about a natural nuclear reaction that once took place at a site named Okla in Gabon, Africa. But there were important differences detected between the African and Martian events.

       The Martian meteorites hold little uranium or thorium. Yet Russian Martian probes (not landers) detected both on Mars in amounts similar to what is seen on Earth.  Brandenburg asserts that this means these elements lie in a thin layer on the surface rather than in rocks below it. He indicates that radioactive potassium was also hyperactive on the Martian surface in a pattern that matched the thorium. This he believes means that some process had spread the thorium and uranium dust all over the planet, and this process also irradiated the potassium with neutrons in the same pattern. The major hot spot appeared to be burned as we would expect to see had there been a nuclear "airburst" over the site. On the opposite side of the planet (at the antipode) there was another radioactive hot spot that looked like the two halves of the shock wave had travelled around the planet to meet there. The similarities to an airburst mean that this explosion was probably not natural  That implies that we have more to worry about than those lichen-like green patches on Martian rocks seen by the Vikings before someone adjusted the color values for public consumption. It means that long before our current civilization arose on Earth, there was a nasty intelligence at foot in our solar system who did not hesitate to nuke Mars into near oblivion.

     Who could do such a thing?  I examine that question in my page about Alien Hybrids. But Brandenburg gives no hard answers in his two Mars books, though I have yet to read his fiction work entitled MORNINGSTAR PASS, The Collapse of the UFO Coverup. Normally I follow up on stories like Brandenburg's assertions out of scientific curiosity.  But I made much of my living with the military as a war plan writer.  Having seen the evidence presented by Dr. Brandenburg, I feel certain that we need to actively plan for a possible defense against whoever perpetrated the assault on Mars. In fact, as U.S. Space Command has access to all the data that he (and this family) have, as well as all the other pertinent data that exists out there, I'd be amazed to learn that our preparations have not been underway for a very long time.