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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11 2017, @11:35AM
Check http://podcast.sjrdesign.net/shownotes_086.php [sjrdesign.net] podcast; good summary of the problem
1) Xe129 is made by supernovae, but not nuclear explosions (where is data to confirm that is produced by nukes, anyway?)
2) Brandenburg doesn't claim that Xe129 is radiogenic, is he? Meaning produced by radioactive decay, like Iodine 129
3) Xe129 is produced by decay of I129, I129 is a signature of nuke explosions, so Xe129 is evidence of explosions? But Brandenburg specifically mentions Xe129 and says it is made by hydrogen bomb explosions, which are like supernovae explosions
4) Some stony meteorites have 4.5-9.6x ratio of Xe129 to Xe132, higher than 2.5x that Brandenburg is claiming for Mars
5) I129 from Mars mantle converted into Xe129, while Mars atmosphere was blown away by impacts, etc.
6) Mars possibly started with an atmospheric composition similar to solar wind with Pu244 and Xe136, which somehow models to higher ratios?
7) Why are potassium and thorium important in respect to Mars nuke explosions?