Were Martians wiped out by a nuclear bomb?

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline
Published: 13:37 GMT, 17 March 2015 

In November 2014, plasma physicist Dr John Brandenburg revealed his theory that an ancient civilisation on Mars was massacred in a nuclear attack.

Now, he’s back, and he’s going to be presenting new evidence for his theory at a Nasa-sponsored conference today.

He claims there is no other explanation for his proposal that a ‘weapon’s signature’ remains from the attack on Mars.

Dr John Brandenburg is to present his theory in Houston, Texas today. He says an ancient Mars civilisation was wiped out by a nuclear bomb. A thin layer of radioactive substances including uranium, thorium (shown in graphic) and radioactive potassium on the surface supposedly provide evidence for this theory

Dr Brandenburg will be presenting his theory at the 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas at the Town Center Exhibit Area this evening.

If you missed the story first time around, be mindful that there’s quite a lot to take in.

He says that ancient Martians known as Cydonians and Utopians were wiped out by a nuclear attack from another alien race.

Although he does not go into much detail about the alien races, he points to a number of ‘artifacts’ on the surface that he says are remnants of an intelligent society.

And he warned we should also be fearful of an attack from this supposedly hostile alien race that wiped out the Martians.

A thin layer of radioactive substances including uranium, thorium and radioactive potassium on the surface provide evidence for this theory.

And nuclear isotopes in the atmosphere apparently resemble hydrogen bomb tests - which he says occurred in two places on Mars, Cydonia Mensa and Galaxias Chaos.

‘We have now found evidence of the nuclear melt-glass Trinitite (formed on Earth at the site of nuclear weapon air-bursts) at both sites of the hypothesised explosions and this will be presented at the conference,’ Dr Brandenburg revealed to MailOnline ahead of his talk.

‘This strongly supports my hypothesis of massive nuclear airbursts.’

‘So far no scientist has offered any other explanation for this body of data.’

Dr Brandenburg will be presenting his theory at the 46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas at the Town Center Exhibit Area this evening. Nuclear isotopes in the atmosphere apparently resemble hydrogen bomb tests - which he says occurred in two places on Mars, Cydonia Mensa and Galaxias Chaos

Back in 2011 the scientist first postulated that the red colour on Mars (pictured) could have been due to a naturally occurring thermonuclear explosion - but now he thinks it was caused by an intelligent alien race

However, at the conference Dr Brandenburg said he would not be talking about his belief in the ancient civilisation.

‘The earlier result of a nuclear massacre stands,' he said.

‘However, for this conference paper I chose to focus on the most important part of the hypothesis, the enormous nuclear explosions, which is the most extraordinary new evidence of past intelligent activity on Mars.

‘My goal is establish the reality of the explosions to the scientific community, and their non-natural origin, and then focus on their targets.

‘Rest assured the whole hypothesis will be discussed tomorrow. I will be waving around copies of my book: Death on Mars.’

Dr Brandenburg also claims he came up with the hypothesis that Mars was once covered in an ocean, which Nasa recently announced.

‘This is a fine old blood feud on Mars,’ he added.

He also says there is no natural explanation for his theory, as they were ‘fast neutron’ midair explosions of about a billion megatons that turned large areas of Mars into glass. Shown is a ground level view of a nuclear device in Nevada, US on 15 April 1955.

Dr Brandenburg also claims he came up with the hypothesis that Mars was once covered in an ocean, which Nasa recently announced. The agency said they now had evidence that 3.7 billion years ago the planet had more water (shown in illustration) than than the Arctic Ocean does today

On the reaction he is expecting, Dr Brandenburg said: ‘I expect the paper to be controversial, with perhaps statements to the effect that "this theory is so ludicrous I am not going to comment on its abundant evidences!" by pundits.’

But he said this would be ‘followed by private conversations by other scientists saying, in hushed tones: "Oh my God! Who do you think did it?" and "Do you think they could come back here?"

He also says there is no natural explanation for his theory, as they were ‘fast neutron’ midair explosions of about a billion megatons that turned large areas of Mars into glass.

‘This cannot be asteroid explosions, as that would have created large craters, and as at Hiroshima and Nagasaki no craters were created,’ he said.

‘This is a weapon's signature.’

Dr Brandenburg will also be presenting another of his theories at the conference, that Mars once has a ‘biologically stabilised greenhouse.’

He says that the planet once had Earth-like temperatures and atmospheric pressures, and was abundant with life and an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

And he says these would have been ideal conditions for life to form.

WHO IS DR BRANDENBURG?

Aside from this outlandish theories, Dr John Brandenburg has led a rather more normal, and prestigious, career.

He has a PhD in Theoretical Plasma Physics from the University of California at Davis.

Currently he works as a plasma physicist at Orbital Technologies in Madison Wisconsin.

He has worked on a variety of propulsion technologies and previously was an independent consultant on Space Missile Defense and Directed Energy Weapons.

Dr Brandenburg has authored a number of books with his latest being Death on Mars: The Discovery of a Planetary Nuclear Massacre.