Mars was heavily populated about 1 billion years ago. That time climate was much warmer, and water was abundant. Marsians had extensive agriculture, domesticated many animals and later built advanced civilization, remnants of which are seen in many close-up Nasa photos. They advanced to 2 major superpowers: democratic North and dictatorship South. There were friction between them, and eventually nuclear war started. Nobody thought it was so destructive, (as governments kept real power and number of charges in deep sectret). Also, they underestimated radiation from blown nuclear plants (there were thosands tons of extremely radioactive fuel in each of them, and they had thousands of plants all over the marsian globe). So, when each side started to target nuclear plants, millions of tons of plutonium and uranium ash were soon scattered by winds all over including a few surviving from nuclear fire communities. There was so much ash in the air that it blocked Sun for many hundreeds of years and triggered inevitable changes in Mars climate (it is very cold since). Vegetation died in lack of Sun and extreme cold in less that 5 marsian years. Eventually evrything - even tiny bacteria - died of strong sustained radiation which penetrated with fine setteling dust practically everywhere.

In a billion years nature almost completely erased ruins and remains of great civilisation (mostly in quakes and volcanoes triggered by nuclear war, later by highly acid toxic rains and then by numerous sandstorms over millions of years since), so now we have very and very little left visible. More is under the deep sands, but who will ever dig about a mile deep to find it (that is how much sediments and sand/sandstone stone accumulates over 1 billion years)?

• Re: Civilisation on Mars. - tripp - February 11, 2001 - 09:25 UTC
  • Civilisation on Mars - gobeo - February 11, 2001 - 22:53 UTC
    • Re: Civilisation on Mars - tripp - February 12, 2001 - 05:16 UTC
      • why not - gobeo - February 12, 2001 - 20:29 UTC
        • a cover up - gobeo - February 12, 2001 - 20:46 UTC
          • Re: a cover up - tripp - February 13, 2001 - 05:52 UTC
            • $158Million mistake (pounds and Newtons) - alexander - February 13, 2001 - 15:47 UTC
              • Re: $158Million mistake (pounds and Newtons) - tripp - February 13, 2001 - 18:05 UTC
                • Learning conversion from Pounds to Newtons. - alexander - February 14, 2001 - 20:23 UTC
                  • Re: Learning conversion from Pounds to Newtons. - tripp - February 16, 2001 - 11:03 UTC
                    • Re: Re: Learning conversion from Pounds to Newtons. - alexander - February 17, 2001 - 09:17 UTC
        • Of course. - alexander - February 13, 2001 - 00:31 UTC
  • Re: Re: Civilisation on Mars. - alexander - February 12, 2001 - 20:19 UTC