WASHINGTON, DC — A GOP congressman raised some eyebrows at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill when he asked NASA officials about the possibility of an intelligent alien civilization on Mars just a few thousand years ago.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California who has been in the news recently for his ties to the Russian government and some inflammatory comments, asked a panel of NASA experts testifying before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology about the possibility of intelligent Martians living not long ago on the Red Planet. The video of the exchange is embedded below.
“You have indicated that Mars had, was totally different thousands of years ago. Is it possible that there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?” Rohrabacher asked.
Kenneth Farley, who is a project scientist with the NASA Mars Rover 2020 mission, replied that in fact Mars would have been significantly different billions, not thousands, of years ago, and that there is absolutely no evidence that any intelligent life ever existed there.
Rohrabacher pressed Farley, asking him if he would rule it out.
“I would say that is extremely unlikely,” Farley responded.
While scientists are vigorously studying Mars for signs of ancient life, they are looking for very basic microbial life, not for human-like aliens.
