THE son of a NASA scientist who was convinced he found aliens on Mars is begging the space agency to search again.
American engineer Gilbert Levin was convinced until he died aged 97 that he had made the discovery while working the Viking Mars landers mission in 1976.
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Ron Levin, 67, is now continuing his dad’s work – and calling on NASA and SpaceX to re-run the experiment ahead of the first manned mission to the Red Planet, scheduled for the 2030s.
He fears that ignoring possible evidence of life on Mars could exposure astronauts to unknown contagions – and they could even bring them back to Earth.
Gilbert rocked the science community in 1976 when he claimed he’d found microbial life on Mars during the Viking Project mission.
But Levin’s theory was dismissed by NASA, who had contracted him to run tests on Martian soil.
He spent the rest of his life adamant he’d been the first man to discover aliens before his death in 2021 at the age of 97.
Just months before he died – he even wrote a column for the prestigous Scientific American explaining his theory and evidence.
Ron, also an engineer, told The Sun: “People are afraid of what would happen if there is life on Mars, and if humans were exposed to it.
“In theory, we could lose the entire Earth to an infection from a Martian organism, that’s the worst fear.
“The smart thing would be to send my dad’s new experiment back to Mars to check on it, see if it can repeat the result.”
He added: “I do believe, at a high level, NASA knows there is existent microbial life on Mars. Why they are withholding this fact I don’t know.”
During the 1976 missions, NASA landed two Viking landers on Mars.
Gilbert concluded the presence of radioactive gas he said showed signs of life.
But NASA ran separate experiments from Viking and determined the soil did not show signs of life.
Ron believes his dad made a key “political mistake” that prevented his findings being taken seriously.
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He added: “I think my dad made a political mistake in the beginning.
“He went before a press conference and he said he thought it probably looks like life. But the project manager of Viking who was there told my dad afterwards you should just say you discovered life.
“The American press doesn’t have the room for prevarication, you either believe in your statement or you don’t. I believed it.
“My father was more of a scientist and he wanted to check everything, and over the subsequent years, he did.
“He tested every hypothesis NASA could come up with. So I think that’s part of what happened, because really, it’s in the minds of the American public who paid for it.”
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NASA’s mission to Mars
NASA hopes to send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s.
The space company has been working to advance its technologies in a bid to send a human crew to the Red Planet.
It would take astronauts up to nine months to reach Mars – which even at its closest is 33.9 million miles away.
Astronauts could then spend up to 500 days on the planet’s surface before returning to Earth – which would take another nine months.
The crew would spend their time on the planet collecting data and assessing the planetary alignment that would allow the spacecraft to land and depart from Mars on the same orbit.
Last year, the agency completed a year-long simulated mission that saw four crew members out in a replica habitat in Houston, Texas.
They logged 378 days in the 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat called Mars Dune Alpha.
He added: “Additionally, there have been a lot of other thoughts that it violates some religious idea that life was formed on Earth and so on.
“And some people feel that it’s a cover up for bacteriological warfare.
“We might want to go get Martian organisms and see if they’re good for use on our enemies, and maybe that would be a reason for the government to keep it secret.”
Among those who believe Levin found aliens on Mars is Barry DeGregorio, an honorary research fellow at the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology.
The Discovery on Vera Rubin Ridge, Trace Fossils on Mars author recently told The Sun of his belief NASA conceals evidence to boost publicity for its first manned mission scheduled for the 2030s.
He also claims to have spotted alien fossils on the Red Planet.
Ron claims he has been in touch with SpaceX about running the experiment again but has been told to prepare it himself.
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He added: “I met another engineering fellow who had contacts at SpaceX and she got us in to see SpaceX about the new experiment about two years ago. And they liked the experiment.
“And they said, we don’t really have money to pay for you, but if you would build it, we will give it a free ride to Mars on one of the starship launches coming up soon.
“And so we are looking for about $5million to build it and it was a great moment.”
Ron also questioned ambitions plans by billionaire Elon Musk to build a human colony on Mars through his SpaceX company.
Last year, Musk suggested humans could be living there in as little as four years and develop a self-sustaining city 16 years later.
But Ron believes this poses a severe danger without carrying out the kind of experiments his dad did first.
He added: “Mars is a very dangerous place, even without microorganisms. A colony on Mars depends on the perfect performance of equipment that was sent from Earth in order to provide water, build the oxygen environment and keep the pressure and never leak.
“In addition to all those things, you could also become infected with some Martian organism that’s communicable and die.
“It’s one of those things I can’t even put a percentage on, although I feel that’s a low percentage.”
NASA has been approached for a response.
