By Natasha Kroeger
Is there life on Mars? Was there at one time?
Former NASA consultant Richard Hoagland thinks the space agency may be sitting on information that proves some sort of intelligent beings once lived on the Red Plant. "We have enough evidence to bring down an indictment," he told Northside People this week. "But we must have better evidence to convict,'' Hoagland, who will present a seminar at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 19 at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza on Valley View Drive, said photographs taken by the Viking space orbiter in 1976 indicate the presence of pyramid-shaped structure as well as a structure in the shape of a human face. His evidence comes from the use of mathematical a calculation known as fractal analyses.
Hoagland said the U. S. government is engaged in an intricate maneuver to cover up this mission. He said the knowledge of artificially produced shapes on the planet's surface is the reason President George Bush said, "We will go to Mars" last month when discussing the space agency's budget.
"A government that views its role paternalistically will not readily release such findings on national security grounds," Hoagland said.
NASA officials, for their part, have discounted but not totally dismissed Hoagland's theories.
"The U.S. has already announced its intention to go to Mars, said Brian Welch of the Johnson Space Center "We are reasonably sure that within the next century we will physically explore that planet and one way or another we will know whether or not Hoagland's theories are rooted in reality'."
Welch said scientists thought there was a possibility life existed on Mars in the mid 1970s, when Viking orbiters and landers were launched. Elaborate soil tests were conducted and the results made public The tests were looking for bacteria, microscopic particles or other indications of life.
"So I would say the government has not exhibited any tendency toward squelching information relevant to this possibility," Welch said.
Tickets to Hoagland's seminar cost $10.