A Return to Utopia?
Julian A. Hiscox, Howell G. M. Edwards and David Wynn-Williams present a look at the search for life on Mars and throughout the Solar System and consider the range of environments in which life can survive.
| Life scientists used to think that life was confined with fairly narrow parameters, yet the versatility of microbial life illustrates that evolution has few boundaries. |
The search for life in the solar system is a long and complex process. Over twenty years have passed since our last direct search for extraterrestrial life. The planet of choice was Mars and the reasons for looking for life were based upon centuries of speculation and a little scientific data about the planet.
During the mid-70s, two identical ‘Viking’ spacecraft, each composed of an orbiter and lander, were sent to Mars. A primary function of the landers, which landed far apart from one another, was to search for microbial life on the surface. Each lander carried three biology experiment packages along with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS). After some initial excitement, the science community came to believe that no terrestrial-type life was found adjacent to the Viking Landers and that, by inference, the rest of the planet was lifeless. Instead, what originally appeared to be signs of biological activity were taken to be reactions driven by surface soil chemistry. At the time there was widespread disappointment with the result and many scientists pretty much closed the book on the life on other worlds debate. This feeling was perhaps best summed up by the former chief of the bioscience section of the Mariner and Viking missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Norman H. Horowitz. In his book, To Utopia and Back, he wrote “The failure to find life on Mars was a disappointment, but it was also a revelation. Since Mars offered by the most promising habitat for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. It is now almost certain that the Earth is the only life-bearing planet in our region of the galaxy”.
Yet for the past few years planetary scientists are again abuzz about the possibility of finding both extinct and possibly living (extant life) on Mars, and another more outlandish body of the solar system, Europa, one of Jupiter’s satellites. Why is this so? Since the Viking biology experiments were conceived in the 1960s we have a far better understanding of life on Earth, both at the physical and molecular level. This guides us as to where we can feasibly speculate that life might reside on other planets (and moons).
Life scientists used to think that life was confined with fairly narrow parameters, yet the versatility of microbial life illustrates that evolution has few boundaries. Any habitat suitable for the growth of higher organisms will also permit microbial growth, but in addition, there are many habitats unfavorable to higher organisms where microorganisms exist and even flourish. Microbes can live in the deserts of Antarctica - the coldest driest places on Earth, to hot springs - the hottest, wettest places on Earth. Recently terrestrial organisms have been discovered living within the Columbia River basalt in the Pacific northwest and elsewhere. Other locations include places as deep as three kilometers below the surface. These locales provide a model for the possibility of organisms living deep below the Martian surface protected from the harsh ultra-violet radiation that bathes the surface and the extremely cold temperatures.
Planetary Habitability
Scientists have recognized that there is a close coupling between life and geological and possible atmospheric conditions. Logically, one of the key criteria identified was the stability of liquid water over geologically significant periods of time. Liquid water is a fundamental requirement for life, not only because reactions occur in solution, but also because it plays a key role in life’s chemistry. The other most important molecules to life are carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus. Together with the elements in water (hydrogen and oxygen), they form the CHNOPS elements. Two bodies that may satisfy these criteria in the solar system are ancient Mars and present day Europa.
Because of the Viking landers, Mars Pathfinder and analysis of the thirteen meteorites from Mars, we are pretty certain that CHNOPS elements are or were present on Mars. Analysis of images taken from orbit, by Mariner 9, Viking Orbiters 1 and 2, and Mars Surveyor provide almost definitive evidence that liquid water once flowed freely on the Martian surface, so much so that some scientists speculate that the northern Martian plains may once have been covered with an ocean. If liquid water was stable on Mars, this implies that the climate was warmer and wetter - that today’s tenuous carbon dioxide atmosphere was much thicker. Both Voyager 2 and more recently Galileo have returned abundant images that indicate that Europa has a liquid water interior surrounded by an icy coat. However, no detailed analysis has been conducted for the CHNOPS elements.
Given that Mars was once flowing in water, why didn’t the Vikings find any traces of Martian life? The answer is probably simple: They were in the wrong places, looking for the wrong type of microorganisms. In searching for life, there are many routes to take and no one route is likely to provide a definitive answer. Imagine trying to look for life on the Earth. You could hit the jackpot and land on a cornfield in the middle of Nebraska - pretty obvious signs of life. You could land in the middle of Yankee Stadium. You could land in the sea, or the crater of a volcano, and so on. Each one of these samplings would give you an increasingly better idea of life on Earth. Therefore, perhaps the best approach when looking for life would be to send a number of probes to different locations or to sample different material.
Given that the Martian surface is an extremely hostile place for life, one place to look for living Martian organisms would be below the surface, perhaps deep underground where liquid water may still be in abundance. Based upon hydrological models that take into account global Martian topography, Martyn Fogg predicts the existence of artesian basins on Mars where pressurized groundwater may exist at comparatively shallow depths. Fogg suggests that it is possible that such basins are extensive and could involve Hellas and much of the northern plains. The implication of this is that the liquid water resource on Mars might be easier to probe and exploit than commonly assumed. Mike Carr, of the United States Geological Survey, argues that the geothermal gradient is such that Mars is likely to have liquid water near the equator at depths as shallow as about two kilometers. The presence of water is suggested by large flood channels that appear to have been caused by the occasional sudden release of large quantities of liquid water from deep below the surface.
The Search for Life
From studying different types of microbes on Earth and in different habitats, we can paint a picture of what and where life might be found on Mars and also Europa, but first we must learn to think small. Because microorganisms are usually invisible, their physical existence in an environment is often unsuspected - especially on other planets. In many cases it is not the microorganisms themselves that we observe in a natural environment, but instead, like the Viking landers, we look for chemical evidence of their existence.
Several procedures are available for looking for microbial activity. One of the most widely used is to measure respiration, as either oxygen uptake or carbon dioxide production. A sample of soil or water is incubated in a closed chamber under simulated natural conditions and a change in one of these gases is measured. Although adequate, this method is not very sensitive. A similar principal was used by the Viking landers - but with far more sensitivity.
The Viking Approach
Radioisotopes are very useful for gauging specific microbial processes in the environment, as they provide extremely sensitive and highly specific means of measuring chemical processes. For example, if photosynthesis is to be measured, the light-dependent uptake of radioactive carbon dioxide (14CO2) into cells can be tracked. Methanogenesis in natural environments can be studied by measuring the conversion of 14CO2 to 14CH4 (methane). Heterotrophic activity (what the heck is that?) can be measured by following incorporation of 14C-organic compounds (for example, the uptake of 14C-glucose or 14C-amino acids). If sulfate reduction is of interest, the rate of conversion of 35SO4- to H235S can be assessed. When considering radioactive tracers for Mars and especially Europa, consideration has to be given to mission duration. Given current transit times between Earth and Mars and Europa, any experiments involving 35S would probably impractical. 35S is a very short-lived isotope (approximately 56 days), versus over nine years for 14C.
As with the Viking lander experiments, there is always the possibility that some transformation of a labeled compound might be due to a strictly chemical or physical process, rather than microbial process. It is therefore essential when using isotopes to employ proper controls. The key control necessary is the killed cell control - it is absolutely essential to show that a transformation measured in nature is prevented by microbial agents or heat treatments that are known to block microbial action or kill the organisms. For Mars, it would be prudent to heat treat samples at least above 113°C — the upper limit for microbial life on Earth. Alternative methods for sterilization could include chemical treatment, such as 4 percent formalin, though this may interact with the chemistry of the regolith sample. Perhaps a better alternative would to expose the sample to a lethal level of radiation. Such a source of radioactivity, say cobalt, could be easily carried on a lander.
Viking Labeled Release Mk 2
Gil Levin, the main proponent that life might still be present at the Martian surface, and that the Viking experiments showed a positive sign for life, has proposed what he describes as an unambiguous Martian life detection experiment. The instrument to conduct this experiment is based on the Viking labeled release (LR) experiment. Levin’s rationale is that all known life forms make and utilize L-amino acids and D-carbohydrates preferentially over the respective stereoisomers (two chemical compounds - isomers - may share a common formula, but have their constituent atoms arranged differently in space, in which case they are termed stereoisomers). On the other hand, no natural chemical reactions can distinguish between stereoisomers. Therefore, any strong response by an unknown agent to one isomer of an administered compound over its stereoisomer constitutes indisputable proof that the agent producing the reagent is biological. Levin suggests that a modified LR instrument could administer L- and D-isomers of amino acids and carbohydrates to discrete portions of the same soil sample. If one isomer was preferentially depleted compared to that of the other isomer, he suggests this would be proof of life. Assuming a positive response, Levin goes further and suggests that if the stereo-specificity differs from terrestrial life that this would hint an independent origin of life. The same stereo-specificity between “Martian” life and terrestrial life would give no indication either way, as presumably there is a fifty-fifty chance that life could use the D- or L-forms of biological material.
Whilst in principle an excellent idea, Levin assumes that Martian organisms will use either the D- or L - forms of amino acids and carbohydrates. One could imagine a scenario by which Martian organisms could utilize both types of compounds. Such a metabolic pathway may have evolved because presumably such material would have been scarce on Mars once the surface became deleterious for life. Therefore, if the D- and L- forms were equally depleted, this could be due to either a feature of Martian surface chemistry (as probably happened with the Viking biology experiments), or life. Because technology has advanced since the Viking Lander instruments, which were developed in the sixties and early seventies, the modified LR instrument could be simplified and miniaturized compared to the original. Levin proposes that this new instrument could be deployed on the planetary surface or placed in penetrators to sample at depth.
The Softly, Softly Approach
Many of the experiments for looking for subsurface life on Mars and Europa would necessarily involve the destruction of the material that the putative life was contained in, and perhaps more importantly, any Martian organisms would also be destroyed. This seems a shame given that if live was present it may presumably be very scarce! One approach that would be non-destructive is being developed by Howell Edwards at the University of Bradford and David Wynn-Williams of the British Antarctic Survey, and their exobiology research student, Emma Newton. Their idea (and others) is to use what is called a Raman spectroscope. This instrument shines a laser beam at a sample and then measures the light that is scattered. Depending on the properties of the sample, the amount and type of light scattered varies. The Raman spectrum of a given compound consists of a unique fingerprint of all its atoms, groups and their interactive effect. Characteristic peaks from this spectrum can be used to identify a target compound amongst other in a mixed sample.
In addition, this technique can distinguish material of both biological and non-biological (geological) in origin. The focused laser beam allows analysis of discrete biological layers within mineral substrata. Short wavelength lasers can be used to analyze biomolecules and inorganic materials of the mineral habitat (rock or soil). However, pigments of the photosynthetic microbes that use sunlight to drive surface communities fluoresce under short-wave light. So to analyze organisms such as the cyanobacteria, which were amongst the earliest colonists of the surface of the Earth over 3.5 billion years ago, they use an infra-red laser which gives a Raman spectrum without interference from fluorescence. As cyanobacteria may have evolved on Mars during the “warm wet” period at the same geological time as on Earth, this approach could be used to detect their fossil biomolecules in Martian sediments.
Using an infrared Raman spectrometer in the laboratory, Edwards and Wynn-Williams have examined translucent sandstone samples containing cryptoendolithic microorganisms from the Antarctic dry valleys. Endolithic communities, up to 8 mm inside the fabric of the rock, might have been the final survivors on Mars as the surface water either froze into permafrost or was lost from the surface altogether. This Antarctic habitat provides one of the best models for life on ancient Mars. The “biological signatures,” so called bio-markers, left behind by extinct Martian endolithic microorganisms could be could be compared with an Antarctic database of the “fingerprints” of similar biomolecules for interpreting future exobiological surveys of the Martian surface.
At the moment, laboratory-based infrared Raman spectrometers weigh several tens of kilograms and require high levels of power consumption. If they are going to be incorporated onto Mars landers in today’s times of faster, better and cheaper, then their weight and power consumption are going to have to be reduced. In addition, these instruments are very delicate and the shock of a “hard” landing on Mars would be detrimental, as well as a fluctuation in temperature of up to 150C. Edwards suggests improvements can be made such as special CCD detectors, fiber optics, solid state diode lasers and holographic filters. With compromises using slightly shorter wavelengths, we foresee that the mass of a Mars instrument suitable for cyanobacterial studies could be reduced to about 1 kg, like the short-wavelength systems already aboard NASA Mars missions.
Earth to Mars, or Mars to Earth?
The investigation of samples from the SNC meteorites has shown how both unambiguous and ambiguous laboratory analyses can be. Because of project Viking, we know the precise composition of the Martian atmosphere and, coupled with Mars Pathfinder data, a fair idea of the mineralogical composition of the Martian regolith. Using this data we can with a great degree of confidence (99.99 percent) state that the SNC meteorites are Martian in origin. However, as Malcolm Walter pointed out, because ALH84001 is a rock out of context, we have no precise idea of the history of the rock. If we are talking about looking for microfossils, we know that we should be looking in areas where liquid water was present, i.e. sedimentary regions.
Whilst measurements of the Martian surface from landers and rovers are fantastic, one of the holy grails of robotic exploration must surely be a sample return mission. As Mike Carr suggests in his book Water on Mars, “Experience with the Moon emphasizes the enormous power of returned samples when placed in the context of global data … having lunar samples in hand allowed the complete analytic and intellectual capacity of the science community to focus on the Moon’s evolution.” The current science-craft in orbit around Mars at the moment should be able to point us to regions of biological interest. These include hydrothermal deposits, ancient sediments deposited by water, and lacustrine sediments.
Although photosynthetic systems are energetically the most efficient way of obtaining energy for metabolism, there are anaerobic (oxygen-free) microbial systems that can obtain energy from chemical transformations of iron, sulfur or even hydrogen. The “chemolithotrophic” organisms that do this require no sunlight and can therefore evolve in the dark, geothermally warmed ground-water of the deep subsurface of Earth and possibly Mars. We have found them on Earth living kilometers below the surface. Beneath the land, they are known to grow under high pressures at temperatures above 76C, whilst in the “black smokers” of mid- oceanic ridges, the record growth temperature is now 113C for a bacterium called Pyrolobus. These anaerobic bacteria could be alive on Mars right now, perhaps two kilometers beneath the surface, but unfortunately out of the reach of current lander technology.
Another potential chemolithotrophic microbial community supported by anaerobic geothermal conditions may exist beneath the ice-crust of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Its eccentric orbit results in tidal friction that warms its core and may create “black smokers” in the potential sub-ice ocean. Europa being further away than Mars makes sample return missions even more complex. Probably the best bet with Europa will be to send a number of sophisticated robots that are able to explore the Europan ocean. Currently planetary scientists are evaluating such techniques in Antarctica. An underground lake the size of lake Ontario has been discovered 4.2 km beneath the central Antarctic ice sheet. The lake, called Vostok, has been isolated from the rest of the planet for over a million years. Scientists and engineers are developing an instrument called a Cryobot, which can melt ice, and a “Hydrobot” submersible that will not only image the underside of the ice and sediments, but will also look for potentially life-supporting “hot spots” analogous to those predicted for Europa.
As our knowledge of the survival limits of microbial life on Earth broadens with the discovery of organisms in increasingly “hostile” habitats, so we must broaden our view of the likelihood of finding evidence of former, or even current, life on Mars and or Europa. The challenge will be finding sites where their biomolecules are preserved for comparison with our increasing Earthly database of microbial “fingerprints.”
Julian Hiscox is a researcher at the School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading. Howell G. M. Edwards is with the Chemical and Forensic Sciences Department at the University of Bradford and David Wynn-Williams is a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey.
Filed under: Articles on August 7th, 2001
Thank you Julian, Howell, and David for what I thought was an informative and thought-provoking overview of the Martian life question. I’ve read a great deal about this subject and, despite my lack of any formal qualifications in microbiology,
I’ve still managed to form opinions!
We know at least one thing for sure: There has been life here on Earth for maybe 3.8 billion years. We also know to a very high degree of certainty that, due to meteoritic impact, lumps of Mars have been landing on Earth for eons and, by inference, that the reverse is also true. Whether life originated here or on Mars, or on both planets simultaneously, is unknown at present. But in any event, it seems an inescapable conclusion that life must exist on Mars.
It may be that the emergence of life is an extremely rare event but it’s evident that once it emerges, it is difficult (if not impossible) to eradicate it. If life ever existed on Mars, and in view of impact-exchange it seems certain that it did, then that life is still there.
And since Earth and Mars are not, and never have been, biologically isolated, the kind of life we have here is the kind we will find on Mars. There seems to be no logical alternative to this argument.
Even if we imagine a scenario whereby life arose only here, and somehow Mars remained sterile, that situation would have changed with the arrival of the first unsterilised probe from Earth some decades ago. (As I understand it, no serious attempts were made by the Soviet Union to sterilise their Mars Landers.) Of course it can be argued that no Earth organism could survive on the surface of Mars for long. But in view of our present knowledge of the extraordinary robustness of bacteria, can anybody expect to win such an argument? If a few hundred million bacteria left Earth on a Mars lander, I would bet good money that at least a few thousand found their way into the Martian regolith!
If I am wrong about any or all of this, can someone please point out my errors. If I’m right, why do people still talk aboutthe possibility of finding life on Mars? It’s not a possibility; it’s a certainty!
A Verbatim Report Excerpt From The Presidents 2004 Budget Proposal For NASA
Where Are The Real Space Aliens?
…However, in the past 10 years, a number of important discoveries indicate that habitable worlds may be much more prevalent than previously thought. Researchers have found life in very harsh environments on Earth, which expands the possible kinds of places where life might exist. In our solar system, scientists have discovered evidence of currently or previously existing large bodies of water, a key ingredient of life, on Mars and the moons of Jupiter. Astronomers also have begun to find planets outside our solar system, identifying approximately 90 stars with at least one planet orbiting them. Perhaps the notion that there’s something out there is closer to reality than we have imagined…
President George W. Bush
2004 NASA Budget Proposal
“I am convinced that UFOs exist because I have seen one.”
Jimmy Carter
“The phenomenon of UFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously.”
Mikhail Gorbachev
“I can assure you the flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on earth.”
Harry S. Truman
Statistically it’s a certainty there are hugely advanced civilizations, intelligences, life forms out there. I believe they’re so advanced they’re even doing interstellar travel. I believe it’s possible they may actually be on earth now.
Astronaut Storey Musgrove
The evidence points to the fact that Roswell was a real incident and that indeed an alien craft did crash and that material was recovered from that crash site, says Mitchell, who became the sixth man on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission. Mitchell doesn’t say he’s seen a UFO. But he says he’s met with high ranking military officers who admitted involvement with alien technology and hardware. Cooper told a U.N. committee recently; every day in the U.S.A., our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us. Cooper speculates that public skepticism toward UFOs will shift dramatically very soon.
Astronaut Gordon Cooper
Astronaut Ed Mitchell
I have been over the years very skeptical like many others. But in the last ten years or so, I have known the late Dr. Alan Hynek - who I highly admire. I know and currently work with Dr. Jacques Vallee. I’ve come to realize that the evidence is building up to make this a valid and researchable question. Further, because my personal motivation has always been to understand our universe better, and my own theoretical work has convinced me that life is everywhere in the universe that has been permitted to evolve, I consider this a very timely question… By becoming more involved with this serious research field, I’ve seen the evidence mount towards the truth of these matters. I rely upon the testimony of contacts that I have had - old timers - who were involved in official positions in government and intelligence and military over the last 50 years. We cannot say that today’s government is really covering it up - I think that most of them don’t know what is going on anymore than the public.
Dr. Ed Mitchell
Apollo 14 Astronaut
It followed us during half of our orbit. We observed it on the light side, and when we entered the shadow side, it disappeared completely. It was an engineered structure, made from some type of metal, approximately 40 meters long with inner hulls. The object was narrow here and wider here, and inside there were openings. Some places had projections like small wings. The object stayed very close to us. We photographed it, and our photos showed it to be 23 to 28 meters away.
Cosmonaut Victor Afanasyev
At no time, when the astronauts were in space were they alone: there was a constant surveillance by UFOs.
Astronaut Scott Carpenter
I’ve been asked about UFOs and I’ve said publicly I thought they were somebody else, some other civilization.
Commander Eugene Cernan
Commanded Apollo 17 Mission
This ‘flying saucer’ situation is not at all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomena. Something is really flying around. The phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious.
General Nathan Twining
You now face a new world, a world of change. We speak in strange terms, of harnessing the cosmic energy, of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy.” “The nations of the world will have to unite, for the next war will be an interplanetary war. The nations of the earth must someday make a common front against attack by people from other planets.
General Douglas MacArthur
We have, indeed, been contacted-perhaps even visited-by extraterrestrial beings, and the US government, in collusion with the other national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information from the general public.
Victor Marchetti
Central Intelligence Agency
More than 10,000 sightings have been reported, the majority of which cannot be accounted for by any scientific explanation… I am convinced that these objects do exist and that they are not manufactured by any nation on Earth.” “I can therefore see no alternative to accepting the theory that they come from some extraterrestrial source.
Lord Dowding
Commander-in-Chief R.A.F.
The evidence that there are objects which have been seen in our atmosphere, and even on terra firma, that cannot be accounted for either as man-made objects or as any physical force or effect known to our scientists, seems to me to be overwhelming… A very large number of sightings have been vouched for by persons whose credentials seem to me unimpeachable. It is striking that so many have been trained observers, such as police officers and airline or military pilots. Their observations have in many instances… been supported either by technical means such as radar or, even more convincingly, by… interference with electrical apparatus of one sort or another.
Lord Hill-Norton
Chief of Defense Staff
Great Britain
“Of course it is possible that UFO’s really do contain aliens as many people believe, and the Government is hushing it up.”
Stephen Hawking
“I doubt that the phenomenon was any terrestrial reflection, because… nothing of the kind has ever appeared before or since… I was so unprepared for such a strange sight that I was really petrified with astonishment.”
Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh
“It now seems quite clear that Earth is not the only inhabited planet.”
Dr. Carl Sagan
“We watched it for quite a few minutes. We could see it was larger than the headlights of the cars below. And we could see it was not attached to anything. And there was no sound. I became frightened actually, because it wasn’t anything I could understand…from a personal viewpoint, I am pretty well convinced that we are being surveyed.”
Dr. Leo Sprinkle
“There are unidentified flying objects. That is, there are a hard core of cases - perhaps 20 to 30 percent in different studies - for which there is no explanation… We can only imagine what purpose lies behind the activities of these quiet, harmlessly cruising objects that time and again approach the earth. The most likely explanation, it seems to me, is that they are simply watching what we are up to.”
Dr. Margaret Mead
“There are too many independent eyewitness reports to ignore. Too many of the reports describe coherent physical effects, and there is an agreement among the accounts concerning what was observed… But of course there are also physical effects. The Air Force report [of the F-16 jet scramble incident on the night of March 30-31, 1990] allows us to approach the problem in a rational and scientific way. The simplest hypothesis is that the reports are caused by extraterrestrial visitors, but that hypothesis carries with it other problems. We are not in a rush to form a conclusion, but continue to study the mystery.”
Dr. Auguste Meessen
“Given the volume of the objects described in the observations… I can affirm that our futuristic space generators are far from being able to produce the amount of energy seen by the UFO witnesses. The light power seen is probably the tip of the iceberg, because no thermodynamic system can produce energy without dissipating a part of it. The megawatts of observed light are most likely the energy ‘leak’ from the energy conversion system used by the flying object, which means that the useful energy produced is much greater than what is seen. The knowledge of such an energy production method is crucial for the future of mankind. The UFO observation reports tells us that ambitious, entirely new, solutions are possible. This is very important.”
Dr. Claude Poher
“It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries. I think that they possibly have been sent out to conduct systematic, long-range investigations, first of men, animals, vegetation, and more recently of atomic centers, armaments and centers of armament production.”
Professor Hermann Oberth
“We soon established that they were not missiles. But, before we could do any more, the Army, after conferring with foreign officials, ordered the investigation stopped. Foreign scientists flew to Greece for secret talks with me… A world blanket of secrecy surrounded the UFO question because the authorities were unwilling to admit the existence of a force against which we had no possibility of defense.”
Dr. Paul Santorini
“The evidence that the earth is being visited by at least one extraterrestrial civilization is extensive both in scope and detail. In it’s totality, it comprises a body of evidence which at the very least supports the general assessment that extraterrestrial life has been detected, and that a vigorous program of research and serious diplomatic initiatives is warranted.”
Dr. Steven Greer
Center for the Study of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Do UFOs Exist?
Aired July 1, 2003 - 21:00 ET
Verbatim Transcript Excerpts
Walter Haut — he was the information officer at Roswell Army Air Field. He wrote the now famous July 8, 1947, press release that said a flying disk had been recovered.
Nancy Easley (ph) Johnston — her father was in charge of security and clean-up at the Roswell site.
Jesse Marcel, Jr. — his father was a Roswell intelligence officer. He says he saw debris samples his father brought home from the crash site.
Julie Shuster (ph), Walter Haut’s daughter and executive director of the International UFO Museum at Roswell.
WALTER HAUT, FIRST TO MAKE 1947 CRASH INCIDENT PUBLIC: We came up with the fact that we had in our possession a flying saucer, and Colonel Blanchard (ph) told me to put it out on every medium I can put it out on, which I did as best I could.
KING: Were you ever asked to countermand that release? Were you ever asked to change what you were first asked to say?
HAUT: No, I was not told to change it. I put out the facts that we had in our possession, a flying saucer.
KING: The key question for you, Walter, is, what do you believe?
HAUT: Well, I believe, personally, that we had in our possession a flying saucer, and that’s the whole sum — the story, as far as I was concerned.
KING: Do you agree with Walter? Do you think that a — that a foreign object landed there with aliens at Roswell 56 years ago?
HAUT: Well, I agree with him. One reason I agree with him, because all the ranchers and farmers knew what weather balloons were. And every time they found one, there’s a little instrument on the end. And if they turned that in, they got 25 bucks. When this happened, they had no idea what it was. They filled their pick-ups full of metal — I mean, full of the debris, brought it in to the Roswell Army Air Field. And that’s where all the investigation started, right there.
KING: All right, Nancy, your father was Army Air Corps officer in charge of security and clean-up. What did he — how old were you at the time?
NANCY JOHNSTON, DAD HEADED ROSWELL CRASH SITE SECURITY: I was a year-and-a-half old, so I remember very little!
KING: What did he tell you later on? JOHNSTON: My father was reluctant to ever talk about this incident. Once my sister and I discovered that an incident had occurred that he had been part of, when we asked him about it, he always told us that he had promised President Truman that he would not discuss it. And he stuck with that up until the end — until almost the very end.
KING: Doesn’t by the fact that he wouldn’t say anything tell you that something happened?
JOHNSTON: I’m sure something happened. I am not privy to the knowledge of what exactly happened, but I’m sure something happened.
KING: And Jesse Marcel, Jr., your father was an intelligence officer. You said you saw debris samples that he brought home? What did you see?
DR. JESSE MARCEL, JR., DAD SHOWED HIM CRASH SITE DEBRIS: Yes, Larry. You know, my dad was the — one of the intelligence officers for the 509th Bomb Group. And as such, it was his job to investigate unusual events like what happened out there. And he was called out one night to the ranch where this thing had landed, picked up some of the debris. He and one of the CIC (ph) agents picked up some of the debris and loaded it in the back of our 1942 Buick. And since our house was on the way to the air base, my dad just swung by the house to show my mother and myself what they had found out there because he realized this was something very, very unusual, something unique, as a matter of fact, because he didn’t think we would ever see anything like this again, which, of course, I have not.
And he drove by the house, put it on kitchen floor, woke my mother and myself up so we could look at this. And we got out in the kitchen and looked — I looked at the debris that was on the floor, and there was just a lot of metal parts, metallic, like, foil - like debris, some I-beam material and some black plastic material. And the first thing he wanted us to do was to look for electronic components, such as vacuum tubes, resistors or condensers because I think he said something like this is part of a flying saucer. And being a young kid at the time, I didn’t know what a flying saucer was, but I sure realized later.
But I examined some of the debris, some of the foil. I picked it up, looked at it. Didn’t try to bend or tear it or stress it in any way. But I found something very unusual. There were some I-beams that were about a foot - a foot-and-a-half long. And along the inner surface of the I-beams, you could see some sort of writing. And there was kind of a purple metallic hue, as you could see very well if you held this up to the light. And I thought at first this was like Egyptian hieroglyphics, but later thought it was not hieroglyphics at all but more like geometric symbols.
KING: I want to pick up there in a minute, but I want to — hold on one second, Jesse. I want to toss to film clip of your father talking a little about this. Let’s watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSE MARCEL, SR., 509TH BOMB GROUP: One thing I was certain of, being familiar with all air activities, that it was not a weather balloon nor an aircraft nor a missile. It was something else, of which — we didn’t know what it was. There were just fragments strewn all over the area. So we proceeded to pick up the parts. A lot of it had a lot of little numbers with symbols that — to me, I call them hieroglyphics because I could not interpret them. They could not be read. They were just like symbols of something that meant something. These little numbers could not be broken, could not be burned. I even tried to burn that, would not burn. See, that stuff weighs nothing. It’s not any thicker than tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Jesse, subsequently, did your father come home and tell you and your mother to forget everything?
MARCEL: Well, he sure did. As I understood, he flew the material to Fort Worth to General Roger Ramey, who was 8th Air Force commander, for his information. And when my dad got back the next day or the day after, he sat my mother and myself down and told us under no uncertain terms were we to ever discuss this issue again. Of course, here I’m talking about, but — but that was very definitely one of the commands that he gave us, is not to talk about it, not with your friends, not with anybody, not even family members.
KING: So the obvious, Jesse, is what do you believe?
MARCEL: Well, I think it’s something very extraordinary. I don’t know what it was. But since that time, I — and thinking more about this, I can’t help but believe that it was something that came from another civilization, much like a space probe that we’re sending to other planets right now and — because the material was unique, like I say. And I do know it was not a weather balloon or even a mogul (ph) balloon, like the Air Force later said, because the material was totally different.
KING: Nancy, what do you — I know your father said, Say nothing, and he wouldn’t tell you what, and Truman and all that. What do you believe?
JOHNSTON: I believe that something obviously happened out there in the countryside close to Roswell that the government has tried very hard all these years to keep us from understanding and knowing about. Since I was not a witness, I have no personal knowledge of what it was, but it had to have been something very big at that time that the government wanted covered up.
KING: Jesse, you think the government set your father up to be kind of a fall guy here?
MARCEL: Well, he was a good soldier. He was just following orders. And I’m sure that he was told to bring the message home to the family that — that not to talk about it because, apparently, somebody found out that we actually saw the material. And you know, years later, I asked him about the possibility of something being still out there, and he said, No, no, no. They vacuumed that place up, period.
KING: Jesse, why do you believe, if it occurred, the Army wanted to cover it up? What’s the big deal? Why not tell us there is life somewhere else?
MARCEL: I wish I knew the answer to that question because, for some reason, they are not ready for the public to know what’s really out there, in spite of the fact that we’re sending probes ourselves to other planets. And obviously, there are civilizations out there that are far advanced of us and can send probes here. So I really don’t know the answer to the questions, why they’re trying to keep it a secret.