Nuclear explosion on Mars 180 million years ago

[Jeff Sheets]

This article says "natural nuclear explosion" but I would be interested in whether this is depicted in legend somewhere. Say Sumerian tablets..?.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/ ... last-mars/

OK, so this really bears reading and maybe recording on the site rather than sending a link that may go away. Here it is..copied from the Fox News article.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

[angeloneastralseed]

What would have caused the explosion? Is is perhaps the fact that Mars does not have a protective atmosphere and the nuclear existence is just a build up from millions of years of exposure? This is fascinating.

[Moon]

I did read about this and it does raise a lot of questions. This could explain what happened to Mars' atmosphere and oceans.

Also, is the radiation levels safe enough now for humans to habitat the planet?

Many questions are raised from this fascinating theory.

[Pons Asinorum]

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.

One million megatons is incredible if true. Even over geological time spans.

The article mentions a naturally occurring nuclear-fission process that happened here on Earth.

This is known to have happened in the African nation of Gabon, in a mine called Oklo. That process lasted for at least 150,000 years:

It has been estimated that the Oklo reactor ran for 150,000 years. The average power output was 100 kilowatts, which is about 10,000 times less than a modern nuclear power plant. Over its entire running time, the reactor put out the energy equivalent of one hundred Megaton bombs.

Comparing the two fission-reactions:

Mars: 1,000,000-megaton hydrogen-bombs equivalent (over an unknown course of time)
Earth: 100-megaton hydrogen-bombs equivalent (over at least 150,000 years)

This is a difference of four orders of magnitude. Something interesting here (if true) and hopefully Dr.Brandenburg will publish his findings in a peer reviewed journal, so the vetting process can proceed. If there is something to this, then it ought to be quite justifiable to divert the research dollars to investigate this (instead of, say, another probe to the polar regions). Also, if his claim is that this happened in a single explosion, then he is talking about a nuclear detonation, and in the natural world on Earth, there is no precedent for such an event -- so yeah, if true, then we might want to check this out.

Also, is the radiation levels safe enough now for humans to habitat the planet?

I am no chemist, but after 180 million years, would not the half-lives of any of the radioactive products all but guarantee a more stable isotope by now (the article cites Xe 129, which is stable) and a lower ambient radioactive environment?

Cannot imagine a 180 million years would not mitigate the danger, but then again, I cannot imagine a 1 million megaton yield (especially in a single event).

[Moon]

I do know some half lives last tens of thousands of years, but some isotopes might last longer. Also, do they know for certain the date of the alleged event? They also don't know if it happened for sure.

[Jeff Sheets]

They also don't know if it happened for sure.

Actually, they know *something* happened because they are seeing evidence. Evidence of what?

A nuclear explosion!
How? By natural processes, of course.
The scientists jump to this conclusion based on the explanation that this happens on Earth. Except, it doesn't make sense when past nuclear reactions on this planet have been slow (over thousands of years). This is also how they explain the ancient cities in India that have abnormally high radiation readings. No geologist would ever believe that an actual atom bomb ever could be set off in 20,000 BC (let alone 180 million years ago)... especially on Mars! All because they do not consider an AAT explanation. They still think we are the center of the universe.

There are countless religions that describe a war in the heavens before man. Everything from the Old Testament to the Mahabharata describe what the sumerian tablets also describe. I'll jump to my own conclusion: The gods were busy and they used nuclear bombs.

[Pons Asinorum]

They also don't know if it happened for sure.

Actually, they know *something* happened because they are seeing evidence. Evidence of what?

A nuclear explosion!
How? By natural processes, of course.
The scientists jump to this conclusion based on the explanation that this happens on Earth. Except, it doesn't make sense when past nuclear reactions on this planet have been slow (over thousands of years). This is also how they explain the ancient cities in India that have abnormally high radiation readings. No geologist would ever believe that an actual atom bomb ever could be set off in 20,000 BC (let alone 180 million years ago)... especially on Mars! All because they do not consider an AAT explanation. They still think we are the center of the universe.

There are countless religions that describe a war in the heavens before man. Everything from the Old Testament to the Mahabharata describe what the sumerian tablets also describe. I'll jump to my own conclusion: The gods were busy and they used nuclear bombs.

There is no evidence of a naturally occurring nuclear explosion on Earth -- just a naturally occurring process called nuclear fission that is similar to the way a nuclear reactor works -- principally, a controlled a chain reaction. If a nuclear-fission explosion was found to have occurred on Mars, then that would serve as a smoking gun for alien intelligence . I would think overwhelmingly so.

Not sure if that is conclusive though, because if a naturally occurring chain reaction can occur in a controlled manner (like a nuclear reactor), then perhaps there are circumstances where a naturally occurring chain reaction could occur in an uncontrolled manner (aka: atomic bomb).

In any event, a natural-occurrence phenomenon should not be difficult to rule out. This is something that should be investigated if Dr. Brandenburg's assertions are justifiable.

[Moon]

Maybe they were trying a terraforming project on Mars and things got a little out of whack. Nuclear explosions do need to be precise and I can't see them happening naturally except on the Sun. Thanks for the explanations and I also re read what they were saying.

[Ace Rimmer]

Maybe they were trying a terraforming project on Mars and things got a little out of whack. Nuclear explosions do need to be precise and I can't see them happening naturally except on the Sun. Thanks for the explanations and I also re read what they were saying.

I like that too!
And I really like what Jeff had to say...

" I'll jump to my own conclusion: The gods were busy and they used nuclear bombs."

I like to draw my own conclusions all the time.

[Moon]

There is a conference in Illinois in which this will be a topic:

http://www.wexclub.com/wexclub_events.h ... Conference

I live close enough (and could take the Amtrak there if need be) and am going to save up for the event.

[Path of Least Resistance]

even if it was naturally occurring would all three of those radioactive elements (uranium, thorium, potassium) be found in the samples? not likely

The half-life of uranium-238 is about 4.47 billion years and that of uranium-235 is 704 million years.

me thinks history doth repeateth thy self.