U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Science, Space and Technology
Hearing of July 18, 2017
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On July 18, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearing on NASA missions to other planets. The Committee heard testimony from Kenneth Farley, the project manager for the NASA Mars Rover 2020 project. During the hearing, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) inquired about ancient civilizations on Mars. The transcript of the conversation is below.
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ROHRABACHER: One last thought. I would hope that, again I think that the Moon is close by, and whatever we can actually get a benefit out of going back there we should before you take the next step. However, the most important thing was if Mars--Can I ask permission for one minute for this question? And that is: You have indicated that Mars had, was totally different thousands of years ago. Is it possible that there was a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?
FARLEY: So, the evidence is that Mars was different billions of years ago, not thousands of years ago...
ROHRABACHER: Well, yes.
FARLEY: And there would be, there's no evidence that I'm aware of.
ROHRABACHER: Would you rule that out? See, there's some people... But anyway...
FARLEY: I would say that is extremely unlikely.
ROHRABACHER: OK. Thank you all. Thank you Mr. [inaudible]. Thanks for the good job you're doing. God bless.