-----Original Message----- From: Terry Blanton > And they always said it was rust: Was There a Natural Nuclear Blast on Mars?....This explosion filled the Martian atmosphere with radio-isotopes.... The radioactivity also explains why the planet looks red...
One wonders if this relates to the failed Beagle 2 mission in 2003. The best guess - at the time - was that the Martian atmosphere that was considerably thinner than the one for which the Boffins had planned. If the model they were using to determine the density of the atmosphere was based on assumptions related to UV release, for instance - and the atmosphere was radioactive (unknown at the time) then there would be more UV release than expected, due to the decay heat, thus the planners would have assumed that it was denser. Just a guess. Parachutes and airbags would not have braked the descent, since the atmosphere was too thin; and the Beagle never got to mark its territory, so to speak. Of course, those in-the-know are still pretty sure that the Time Lords are responsible. Jones
