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Plasma physicist and nuclear weapons specialist John Brandenburg has an out-of-left-field theory about two gigantic hydrogen bomb-type nuclear explosions that supposedly took place on Mars within last hundred million years. He points to overabundance of radioisotope Xenon 129 that results from fission of heavy nuclei as evidence. Xenon 129 is a signature of nuclear explosions and exists in Earth's atmosphere because of the atmospheric nuclear testing and plutonium production that had gone on in the twentieth century. It is also made in supernova explosions as a result of intense neutron bombardment and is therefore embedded in asteroids and meteoroids within the Solar System. John Brandenburg claims that the only way the amount of Xenon 129 that is inferred from 1976 Viking Mars mission data and verified by mass spectrometer on Curiosity rover could have been produced in the distant past is by the way of nuclear explosions. No meteor showers could explain this because meteors contain both Xenon 129 and 132 in equal quantities and the amount of Xenon 129 contained within them is tiny and gets released only at very high temperatures. Mars has 2.5 times more Xenon 129 than Earth's atmosphere prior to 1937 (no nuclear production) and the meteorites. He points to two sites on the Red Planet where the hypothetical explosions took place: in the Northern plains in Mare Acidalium at approximately 50N, 30W, near Cydonia Mensa and in Utopia Planum at approximately 50N 120W near Galaxias Chaos.
He was a recent guest on The Space Show, where he reiterated his theory. It's a long podcast and nukes on Mars talk starts at 47 minutes into the show.
Here is a link to his paper and his website.
He also gave a presentation to a packed auditorium at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2016 about a different theory of his:
Mars in one Month: The GEM theory of Energy and Momentum Exchange With Spacetime and Forces Observed in the Eaglework Q-V Thruster
Wacky, but interesting, no?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:19PM (3 children)
Yes, I like VLm's theory much better, because it has less details, and so is easier to swallow. And VLM is much more sane than this guy, even if he's a little bit Nazi.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:38PM (2 children)
a little? Who exactly do you think is to the right of me? Although politics doesn't really matter in the context of physics, tech, conspiracy theory, historical examples of weaponized conspiracy theory, etc. Aside from the lefties endlessly think the nazis though the earth was hollow and Antarctica would make a great "conquer the world base" although I don't understand the point of going to Antarctica is you have a perfectly good base in Germany.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @04:35PM
You mean the loonies, left / right doesn't matter. I'm getting tired of the constant political barrage as a casual thing here.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday October 11 2017, @10:04PM
The reason has something to do with a pyramid, which indicates a lost civilization, which implies technological secrets, which lead to power. Do your research.
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