Ancient Aliens (2009–…): Season 11, Episode 2 - Destination Mars - full transcript

PAUL DAVIES: Do I believe that
there is or was life on Mars?

Yes, I'm absolutely
certain of it.

MIKE BARA: There are a lot
of different objects on Mars

that look exactly
like sculptures

that human beings make.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
We have to ask ourselves

what civilization built this?

And what happened to them?

JOHN BRANDENBURG:
There's no natural phenomenon

that can account
for this nuclear data.

That is weapon signature.



STEPHEN PETRANEK:
Going to Mars, it's something

we know in somewhere
in the back of our brains

that we have to do or we die.

NARRATOR:
Since the dawn of civilization,

mankind has credited
its origins to gods

and other visitors
from the stars.

What if it were true?

Did extraterrestrial beings

really help
to shape our history?

And if so,
might we find the truth

when humans land on Mars?

Who are the real-world Illuminati ?
Find out @ saveanilluminati.com

MAN:
We are go for launch.

MAN 2:
Roger, go for launch.



NARRATOR:
Earth, 2026.

MAN:
Five, four, three,

two, one.

We have ignition.

We have lift off.

NARRATOR:
Four civilian astronauts

begin their 150-day journey
to the Red Planet.

MAN:
Velocity 14,899 miles per hour.

NARRATOR: The voyage will
take them deeper into space

than any human
has ever traveled--

over 128 million miles.

200 times farther
than the distance to the moon.

BUZZ ALDRIN: You leave Earth
at a pretty high velocity,

and the spacecraft flies

away from the Earth
and away from the moon

and away from the sun.

The distance away may not be
the biggest concern.

And it only takes
five months to get there.

Now, you can certainly, uh,
uh, withstand that.

So the-the problem
is getting back.

PETRANEK:
They're traveling so fast

that they can go through
ten feet of solid steel.

So a rocket has to be built

so that it's very,
very well shielded

for human beings.

It's not an easy trip.

And there are
momentous catastrophes

that could occur.

I kind of like to compare that
to when the first explorers

were going across the ocean.

Those were long,
horrible journeys as well

and we survived those.

And I really see Mars

as one of the great,
first stepping stones

to exploring space.

SUE ANN PIEN: I was born
with a fascination for space.

And the only thing
I wanted to do was explore.

I wanted to know
what was out there,

and get out there.

And so, by the time
I heard about Mars One,

it felt like there was
a calling, a destiny there.

What an amazing way
to kind of give your life

to the greater cause
of humanity.

TSOUKALOS:
We are a species of explorers.

And the reason why we keep
looking out there,

in my opinion, is because
that's where we came from.

'Cause you will not find
any other organism on Earth

that has such
a fascination with space,

with the stars or with anything

that displays such curiosity
like human beings.

And our next step
will be colonizing Mars.

So the idea

that others have proposed
that we are nothing else

but the Martians,
so we are bound to go there.

NARRATOR: According to NASA,
the colonization of Mars

will begin not with humans,
but with robots

sent ahead
to construct habitats,

rovers and life-support units.

Food and supplies
will be sent next,

and then finally
the first humans

will arrive,

ready to start
their new lives as Martians.

PIEN: The Martian environment
is very different to Earth.

It has 38%
of the gravity of Earth.

The daily temperature
fluctuations are very extreme.

For instance, if you're near
the equator on a summer day,

it can be as warm
as 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

But at night,
the temperatures could drop down

to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

So there's a lot of things
out there that's getting us,

including radiation, as well,
and the dust storms.

The atmosphere
is incredibly thin--

about one percent
of that of Earth.

There's no breathable
oxygen there.

The radiation
is very high as well.

And so astronauts there

are faced
with multiple difficulties.

A Martian day
is almost like Earth's.

It's 24 hours and 39 minutes.

So it's just a little bit longer
than a day on Earth.

But a Martian year is two years,

because Mars' orbit
is twice the size of Earth's.

NARRATOR: Because
of the day-night cycle

and the thin atmosphere,

Mars is the only nearby planet
where large-scale greenhouses

lit by natural sunlight
can be utilized.

These structures
will allow the colonizers

to grow their own food

on the cold and barren planet.

Obviously you can't
rely on food parcels

from home
coming every two years.

You're gonna have
to grow your own food.

A lot of people think, "Well,
that's pretty straightforward.

"You just take a few potatoes
and cabbages, and away you go.

You can do farming on Mars."

Now, research that's been done
at Arizona State University

suggests that when you send
microorganisms into space,

they behave differently.

They don't like it up there.

Hundreds, if not thousands,
of PhD theses

in the last 20 years
have been written

about how to grow food on Mars.

And there was
a very interesting experiment

done a couple of years ago
in Holland,

where NASA provided the Dutch
with what they thought

was almost an identical copy
of the soil on Mars.

And the Dutch planted
4,200 seeds in it,

of all kinds
of different vegetables.

And every single seed
germinated.

Some things
did better than others--

like carrots
grew very well there.

There is no question
that we will

be able to grow food on Mars.

But it's gonna be hundreds
of years before we grow

enough food on Mars that we can
survive from the food we grow.

The only way we're gonna
be able to do that

is to terraform the planet,
so that it becomes much

more Earth-like
so that we can grow crops

on the surface of the planet.

NARRATOR:
In recent years,

scientists have proposed various
methods to terraform Mars,

deliberately altering it
to be more Earth-like.

Most focus on
melting the ice at the poles

to release carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere to thicken it.

PETRANEK:
If we heat up the poles on Mars,

that causes a significant
temperature rise on Mars,

and we start having
flowing water on Mars,

especially around the equator.

Then water itself
will go into the atmosphere,

which is another greenhouse gas.

And we will warm up Mars.

And we will be able to plant
crops on the surface of Mars.

But that's a ways away.

That's probably at least
300 years away.

NARRATOR: With missions from
both NASA and the private sector

now officially in the works,
humans landing

on Mars is no longer
the stuff of science fiction.

But will we really
go so far

as to terraform
the planet so that

we can establish
permanent residency there?

And if so, why?

What is it about Mars
that compels us to go there?

Interestingly,
the conditions on Earth

three to four billion years ago
are thought to be

much different
from what they are today.

Like Mars, the planet
was relatively uninhabitable

and lacked an atmosphere.

According to ancient astronaut
theorists,

directed terraforming

may have been exactly how life
was started on Earth.

And as evidence,

they point to our earliest
creation stories.

When we look
at the world's creation myths,

one of the things that we find
throughout these stories

is the idea that
the gods sought to create

a stable environment
on the Earth.

The story of Genesis could be
seen as a step-by-step guide

for terraforming the Earth.

On day one, God or the gods

created the universe.

On day two, the gods
created the firmament.

This is described as a dome,

or a boundary
separating heaven and Earth.

Followed by the appearance
of plants and animals

and later human beings.

GEORGE NOORY:
To me, when I look at Genesis,

it is exactly the thought

of an extraterrestrial
visitation.

I'm sure there's a god--
there's no doubt about that.

That there's a higher power.

But somewhere along the line,
extraterrestrials

came down to this planet,
created us,

maybe even
terraformed the planet,

so that it could be
adaptable to life.

Heck, we're talking about doing
that on Mars right now.

The things that we'll be
doing on Mars may be

exactly the same things
that extraterrestrials did

when they came to our planet.

We'll be terraforming
that planet.

Creating a more
conducive atmosphere.

Melting icecaps to create
rivers and lakes.

And then perhaps even
genetically manipulating

organisms to better survive
on that planet.

And perhaps mankind is being
guided by extraterrestrials

to go to Mars and colonize
that Red Planet.

NARRATOR:
With our plans to colonize Mars,

are humans actually
following in the footsteps

of extraterrestrials
that came to Earth

in the remote past?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that not only

is this the case,
but that there is even evidence

these alien visitors
might have come here

from the very planet
that is now our destination.

NARRATOR:
On March 10, 2006,

the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
reached its destination,

and began orbiting 186 miles

above the Martian surface.

It has circled the planet over
40,000 times and has sent

over 264 terabytes of data

and 200,000 images

back to researchers on Earth.

On September 28, 2015,

NASA scientists announced

that the images received
from the Orbiter

had finally led to the kind

of groundbreaking discovery
they were hoping for--

evidence of water on Mars.

Photographs taken by the Orbiter

reveal streaks that appear to
ebb and flow through the year,

much like the seasonal flow
of rivers on Earth.

PETRANEK: Astrobiologists
have had a wake-up call.

If there is flowing
underground water on Mars,

and since we know that all
the chemicals structures on Mars

for life are the same
as they are on Earth.

If you have that,
it's unlikely

that there is not
life on Mars.

DAVIES: The big question
everybody wants to know is--

is there enough there
for Mars life?

And in my view,
the answer is yes.

You don't have to have
liquid water lying around

like a pond in order
for microbes to make a living.

There are microorganisms
on Earth

that live
in Mars-like conditions.

So do I believe that there is
or was life on Mars?

And I say yes,
I'm absolutely certain of it.

NARRATOR:
In 1996,

NASA researchers studying

a Martian meteorite found
on the Alan Hill ice fields

of Antarctica

announce a shocking discovery--

evidence of past microbial life

on Mars.

They backed away
from this conclusion

shortly after it made
international headlines.

Over a decade later,

scientists re-examining
the meteorite

determine that it does indeed
contain organic matter

and evidence
of bacterial fossils.

The evidence for microbial life
on early Mars

from the meteorites
is now very strong.

It's almost overwhelming.

Not only do some
of the Mars meteorites

show signs
of early life on Mars,

almost every one of them does.

NARRATOR:
While evidence of microbial life

in Mars meteorites
is groundbreaking,

in 2013,
geochemist Steven Benner

presented findings suggesting

these meteorites point
to a possibility

even more astonishing
than the notion

that there was
once life on Mars.

He claims that
they may be responsible

for seeding life here on Earth.

Benner reached this conclusion
when he found

that particular elements
believed to be crucial

to the origin of life are
not readily available on Earth,

and would only have been present

on the surface
of the Red Planet.

I've always felt
that Mars was actually

a better place than Earth
for life to get going.

Now Steve Benner recently has
added to the appeal of Mars

as the cradle of life

by pointing out that certain
elements that are actually

essential for organic chemistry
to work properly

like boron and molybdenum,

which are more abundant on Mars
than they are on Earth.

We can imagine that life
on Earth started on Mars,

so in a sense we're all Martians
or descended from Martians.

(indistinct chatter)

NARRATOR: Life on Earth
seeded from Mars?

Could we, in fact, be Martians?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest that
this seeding of Earth

may even have been
a directed effort

orchestrated
by human-like beings

that existed
on the Red Planet.

And they claim these
extraterrestrial ancestors

can be found
in the apocryphal texts

of the Hebrew bible,

represented
as the "fallen angels."

We know from ancient legend
of the books of Enoch,

that there was
a group of angels

who descended to Earth

in violation of divine law.

They introduced to humanity

ways, means, knowledge,

which we would understand today
as science and technology.

These angels were in human form.

They were called, in Hebrew,
Ishim, which means men.

They looked just like us.

YOUNG:
The fallen angels were giants.

They were at least ten feet
tall, very striking to look at.

Enormous eyes.

And no wings.

HENRY: For over 100 years,
mythologists

have been contemplating this
idea that the fallen angels

came from Mars to Earth.

Even Dante described this
in the Paradiso.

He called this
the fifth level of heaven.

Is it possible
that the fallen angels

came to Earth from Mars?

NARRATOR: Could we reinterpret
the story of fallen angels

as beings not from heaven,

but from Mars?

Based on examination
of the astronauts

living in the International
Space Station,

scientists have speculated
on what physiological changes

might be seen
in future generations

of humans born on Mars.

And ancient astronaut theorists
suggest

the resemblance to the
description of fallen angels

may be uncanny.

PIEN: One of the most amazing
things about the human body

is its ability to adapt.

And if you look at astronauts
who go into space,

they actually grow
about two or three inches.

And when you have a human
that's born on Mars,

what's gonna happen
is the environment

will change the structure
of the human body.

And what you're gonna see
in a few generations

is humans that are
taller and skinnier,

because the gravity on Mars
is less than that of Earth.

BARA: If humans evolve
long enough on the planet Mars,

they could grow to be taller,

they'd have the bigger heads;

they'd have the spindly limbs.

They might actually grow
slightly larger eyes

that were equipped
to see better in the dark,

because you simply
have less sunlight on Mars

than you do on the Earth,

because it's farther
away from the sun.

They could also end up looking
like representations

of angels and various

other god-like beings
that we've read about

in the Bible
and other ancient documents.

CHILDRESS:
These attributes to somebody

from a low-gravity planet
like Mars

or being in space
for a long time

may well be the attributes
that we see

of the fallen angels
being very tall

and-and spindly

and-and perhaps pale

and with large eyes.

Something that we might
expect to be coming

from another planet like Mars.

NARRATOR:
Might life on Earth

really have originated
on Mars?

And is it possible
it was not by chance,

but by design?

And if so, just what happened
to the Martians?

Perhaps clues
can be found by examining

what some say
is undeniable evidence

of weapons of mass destruction.

NARRATOR:
Spanning 2,500 miles

across the equatorial region
of the Red Planet

is a colossal gash
in the crust.

Called the Valles Marineris,

it is over four miles deep,

which is four times
the depth of the Grand Canyon.

And it runs a length equal

to the span
of the United States

from New York to California.

DENNIN:
The Valles Marineris

is one of the biggest tranches
on Mars.

It was named after one of the
Mariner missions in the '70s.

It has some very interesting
geological features.

It's quite huge.

So it's really
an interesting challenge

to figure out
what formed this valley.

DAVIES:
It is truly immense.

And the question is, uh,

why did these features occur
on Mars on such a grand scale?

The Grand Canyon is, you know,
created by the Colorado River.

I don't think
the Valles Marineris

was created by a river.

It's very clear
that it hasn't been made

by water erosion.

NARRATOR:
The prevailing scientific theory

suggests that the gash

may be the result
of volcanic activity

combined with shifts
in crustal plates.

However,
engineer Ralph Juergens

argued in his 1974 article,
"Of the Moon and Mars,"

that the geographic features
of the Valles Marineris

did not show signs
of being torn and upended

as is typical
of volcanic thrusts.

But rather,
it appeared to be carved out.

Juergens proposed
that the feature

resembled the residual marks

left behind
by an electrical discharge.

According to his theory,

the area was zapped by
a powerful cosmic thunderbolt,

carving out the landscape as it
advanced across the surface,

blasting material into space.

Although NASA scientists

dismiss the theory,

it has been gaining traction
with electrical engineers.

By using

two electrodes to create
an electrical arc

over a sandy surface,
they have been able

to demonstrate on a small-scale

how the Valles Marineris
could have been carved out

by an electric bolt.

You don't see this type of thing
with a volcano

or an earthquake or any other
type of natural occurrence.

The feature itself resembles

many of the electric discharges
that we've done.

NARRATOR:
But could a cosmic thunderbolt

be responsible for
the massive gash across Mars?

If so, was it
a natural occurrence

or an attack?

There are some
very interesting stories

of ancient advanced
thunderbolt-like weapons.

For example, in the Norse,
Greek, and Vedic traditions,

there is a weapon that can
destroy entire worlds.

In the Vedic text,

uh, what is found
is called "Vajra."

"Vajra" means thunderbolt.

And this is
a very powerful weapon

that God Indra carries.

And it was a special weapon
that was designed

to destroy this giant
called Vritra.

Vritra represented
the dark force.

And then he was creating havoc
in the universe.

So he had to be destroyed.

And Indra used this weapon

to destroy this giant.

CHILDRESS: Vajra is this super
lightning bolt strike

that devastates everything

and is the most destructive
weapon that the gods have.

And if you look on Mars
that scar appears to be

from some huge electric strike.

Perhaps this Vajra weapon
of Indra

that is hitting the planet

and creating a huge canyon

and may be what

really changed Mars.

It would seem
that these weapons

are extraterrestrial
in nature.

NARRATOR:
Could the Vajra described

in the ancient Vedic texts

be a super weapon
used against the planet?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest
there is even evidence

of other weapons
of mass destruction

being detonated
on the Red Planet.

In a 2014 paper

published in
The Journal of Cosmology,

physicist Dr. John Brandenburg

presented findings indicating

that someone or something

wiped out life on Mars

with massive nuclear explosions.

BRANDENBURG: There's
an enormous spike in xenon 129

in the Martian atmosphere.

Xenon 129 is produced

by very violent
nuclear reactions.

I originally proposed
as an explanation

that this was a natural nuclear
reactor that had gone unstable.

However, as I talked
to more scientists,

they said the xenon spectrum
is wrong.

That is weapon signature.

That is not from any kind
of natural nuclear reactor.

The pattern of radiation

on the Mars surface
indicates

that there is
a global debris pattern

extending from two hot spots
of radiation

in the north of Mars

going all the way
around the planet.

The regions of the residual
radioactivity

are covered in glass--

the same sort
of acid-etched glass

that was found
at nuclear test sites.

It's called trinitite.

So thousands of square miles
of Mars' surface

apparently were turned to glass.

Someone apparently dropped two
massive nuclear weapons on Mars

to explode in mid-air.

There's no natural phenomenon

that can account
for this nuclear data.

So we must go to Mars.

We must find out exactly
what happened there.

NARRATOR:
Are there really tell-tale signs

of orchestrated
mass destruction on Mars?

If so, might some
of the survivors

have made it to Earth?

Perhaps further evidence
can be found

by examining
the landscape of Mars,

and its mysterious formations

that some say
are alien artifacts.

NARRATOR:
554 solar days

after the Mars Curiosity Rover
touched down,

it beams its latest
high-resolution

panoramic photographs
of the Mars landscape to Earth.

Upon inspection, amateur
archaeologists

announce a startling discovery--

what appears to be an effigy

located at the Dingo Gap,

resembling a human statue.

The find is just one
of the dozens

of strange earth-like objects
sighted in the Rover images--

including a sarcophagus...

a Buddha statue...

...and even a cross.

BARA:
There are a lot

of different objects
on Mars that people see,

or think they see,
in various rover images.

And it's really hard
to dismiss them,

because they do
look exactly

like sculptures
that human beings make.

And even after
a massive cataclysm,

like what apparently
took place on Mars,

you're gonna find remnants
from a lost civilization

that's just leaving behind
those last hints that

we were here.

NARRATOR:
Ancient astronaut theorists

have considered
that there may be

artifacts and unnatural
structures on Mars

since the first images
where beamed back

from the Mars Viking Mission

in 1979.

NASA officials claim
the perceived likeness

of formations on Mars
to man-made objects

is due to Pareidolia,

where the mind perceives
a familiar pattern,

like seeing shapes in clouds.

But some imaging experts
are not convinced

that it's just
a trick of the eye.

Joe White has been working

in image restoration
for 25 years,

and claims to have found
artifacts on the Martian surface

that defy explanation.

JOE WHITE:
The Rover images

are generally fairly close-up,
and it is possible

to spot things like statue heads
and stone blocks,

sometimes with writing on
and carvings in them.

It's such a shame they, they do
so much to destroy these images.

But basically what they do
is they resize them down

so that the detail's all lost.

But because I've worked in
photographic restoration,

I know how to do it.

All I've done with this is
actually enhanced the contrast

and sharpened it a little bit.

The details
I noticed first were

particularly
the eye and nose details

on the front of the, of the,
the statue on the left here

with a very quite clear
mouth structure

and what looks like an ear,
just here.

And you have a long narrow
elongated cone head shape

to the statue.

Now this may well be
an elaborate headdress

on this statue here,
which seems to be broken off.

But it's hard to say for sure.

I mean this is a,
it's a damaged statue,

buried up to its chin

and there's probably
a lot more of it

buried just below in the sand.

But you can actually
see quite clearly

it's the sort of thing
you would expect to find

somewhere like Central
or South America.

NARRATOR: Might there actually
be ruins of a lost civilization

scattered across
the Martian landscape?

Ruins that mirror those
that exist on our own planet?

Ancient Astronaut theorists
say yes,

and propose that this is

one of many artifacts on Mars

that seem to have
counterparts on our Earth.

Certain structures on Mars
may be completely

related to structures
here on Earth.

On Mars, we have structures
that look like pyramids.

There are standing stones

and Stonehenge-type
of structures on Mars.

There's also a structure on Mars
that looks like a Sphinx.

BARA: Around Cydonia,
there are many, many objects,

including an area
called "the city,"

where the so-called face
on Mars is located.

There's a massive
pentagonal pyramid.

There's a cluster
of other pyramidal objects

that are nearby.

And one of the things that's
really interesting

about the city is that some
people have pointed out that

if you take the apex of all of
the pyramidal structures there--

and there are number of them--

that they basically match
the layout of the Pleiades.

Now, this is something
that we've seen here on Earth.

We've seen various ancient
architectural monuments

that are also
laid out to reflect

the constellation
of the Pleiades.

TSOUKALOS: Is it possible
that the structures on Mars

are real
and of artificial origin?

That is something
where all of science says,

"No, impossible."

Well, is it really?

Water on Mars--
impossible, right?

No, it has been proven.

So we have to ask ourselves

what civilization built this?

And what happened to them?

And some have suggested that
they actually escaped Mars

and came to Earth
to ensure their survival.

HENRY: When we look to these
extraordinary structures

on Earth, similar to what
we're now seeing on Mars,

it makes you wonder did
our ancient extraterrestrial

ancestors teach humans
how to build these monuments?

And knowing that one day,
we would rediscover our roots

on Mars and be able to match up
what we've done on Earth

with what we had
already done on Mars.

NARRATOR: Might the various
structures and artifacts

found on the surface of Mars

really be evidence
of a past Martian civilization?

A civilization that was
recreated on Earth?

If so, why would NASA
try to hide this connection?

And might there be more

that the public
isn't being told?

NARRATOR:
The $2.5 billion Mars Curiosity

is the most advanced rover yet
to explore the Martian terrain.

Beyond obtaining
high-resolution photographs,

as well as soil and air samples,

as it travels across
the surface of the planet--

it is also able
to turn the camera on itself.

A feature that enables
engineers at NASA

to diagnose and troubleshoot
issues from Earth.

Curiously, 50 solar days
into its mission,

the rover beamed a mysterious
photograph back to Earth

showing what appeared
to some researchers

to be the shadow
of a human-like figure

working on the Rover.

CHILDRESS:
You could see a person there.

And even it seemed that
he was not wearing a helmet,

but was in some kind
of gear and goggles.

And it made people speculate
that what might be going on

on Mars is more
than what NASA

and also
the military space program

has said that we can achieve.

BARA: NASA knows
so much more about Mars

than they are telling us.

They put pictures out.

They allow things to come out.

They do not comment
on them, in general,

but they just allow people
with eyes, who want to see,

to look at these things
and understand what they are.

But they don't
say anything about it,

because they are constrained
by the political realities.

NOORY:
A couple of years go,

we got a call
from a person named Jackie,

who claimed that she was
a former NASA employee.

And she went on
with this profound story

about how our rovers

had sent back pictures
that NASA has suppressed

of humans on Mars
walking around.

And she was very compelling.

She seemed to know exactly
what she was talking about.

There's always been a theory
that there's a space program

beyond the space program
that we know.

It's a black ops program.

It's the program where trillions
of dollars merely disappear,

and nobody knows
where the money went.

And nobody knows
what's going on.

BARA: A Scottish hacker
named Gary McKinnon

actually hacked
into the NASA database,

and discovered a file,
which contained a list

of what were called
non-terrestrial officers--

officers in the military
that were actually

living and working
off of the planet Earth.

Now, "non-terrestrial"
doesn't necessarily mean "Mars."

But it does mean "out in space."

And what that indicates
is that there is some kind

of top-secret space program

that exists that the public
doesn't know about.

NARRATOR:
Could there really be

a secret U.S. military
operation on Mars?

If so, just how long
has it been going on?

Some researchers suggest
that a feasible plan

to get to Mars was conceived

well before we even
made it to the moon

and by the same scientist
that got us there.

PETRANEK: Wernher Von Braun
was a rocket genius,

and he was obsessed
with going to Mars.

He was obsessed with rocketry.

And he wrote a book in 1948
called The Mars Project.

And it's basically a 91-page
manual on how to get to Mars.

It has all the computations
worked out,

all the formulas for
what home and transfer orbits

you need to use to get to Mars.

He actually projected

that he could put
people on Mars by 1965.

Everything he put
in that 91-page manual

is actually still valid today.

NOORY: Wernher Von Braun
outlined our plan

to go to Mars and colonize it.

Well, everybody thinks,
"Well, we just never did that."

There are other people that
think we took his playbook

and that we indeed
did colonize Mars,

and that we have
a colony of astronauts there

right now under his tutelage
when he was alive.

DAVID WILCOCK:
There's compelling evidence

that Von Braun
was working secretly

with elements
of the U.S. government

in an attempt
to try to make it to Mars.

Is it possible that was done?

Do you think it's possible
that the government

could keep something a secret?

Absolutely.

Go back
to the Manhattan Project.

When they developed
the nuclear bomb, there was over

140,000 personnel
involved in that program.

No one squealed.

No one said what they were doing

and many of those people
were unaware of what

they were working on until
the bomb itself was detonated.

So Von Braun
could've been working

on a secret Mars program,

and with the same level
of secrecy

as the Manhattan Project,

it still to this day
could be highly classified

and never released
to the public at large.

NARRATOR: Werner Von Braun's
genius is credited

with being the reason
we ever made it to the moon.

Might he also have orchestrated
a secret mission to Mars?

And if so,
what was its purpose?

NARRATOR:
Torrance, California,

2015.

The board members of a private
space agency lead by Elon Musk,

Space X,

announce that the explicit aim
of the organization

is and always has been
to help humanity colonize Mars.

ELON MUSK:
I do think it is important

that we as a species,
as a civilization,

are on a path
to become a true space-far--

a true space-faring civilization
and a multi-planet species.

Elon Musk's position
is that humans

cannot survive
indefinitely on Earth,

and there are a lot of threats
to the continuation

of human life on Earth--

both from what we're
doing to our own planet,

but also from things
like asteroids.

We get a single hit
from an asteroid that's as big

as the one
that took out the dinosaurs.

And that, by the way,
is a 100% probability

that that is going to happen,
sooner or later.

Going to Mars,
it's a survival instinct.

It's something we know,
it's somewhere

in the back of our brains
that we have to do or we die.

BARA: I think that's the message
of the ruins of Mars is that

this can happen to you.

And you should think about,
as a species,

ways to ensure that the human
race is not wiped out,

because despite our flaws,
we're a very

noble, powerful,
important part of this universe.

CHILDRESS:
It's something that will take us

back to our very beginnings.

And here we'll be really
following in the footsteps

of the ancient astronauts,
who came to Earth.

And ultimately,
we will be like them,

being the extraterrestrials
ourselves

and colonizing a foreign planet.

HENRY:
When we colonize Mars,

it's a retracing
of ancient footsteps.

It will be a reconnection
and a remembering

of where we came from.

And it may be
that colonizing Mars

will be our ultimate salvation.

TSOUKALOS: Mars is a very,
very logical point,

if life on Earth ever should
become impossible,

that's our next step where to go
if the survival of our species

is at the forefront.

Because maybe
that's where we came from.

So maybe we earthlings
are the Martians.

Then the question is

has this game been
going back and forth

for hundreds of thousands
of years?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible

that the colonization of Mars

is the key
to our continued survival?

And if so, have we stood

on this precipice before?

Could there have been
a human presence

on Mars thousands of years ago?

Perhaps we will discover

the truth
about our alien ancestors

when we become
the extraterrestrials

on Mars.

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