# What is the Government protocol, if we discover Life on Mars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785 "2004-01-16T16:23:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/1 "2004-01-16T16:23:08Z")
Let’s say the Spirit Rover stumbles on something completely unexpected…say an abandoned outpost for some sort of intelligent life…I know the Rover will most likely only go 2000 yards total IIRC, but what if? I’m not necessarily talking little green men here, but as far as I know the government has contingency plans for everything. My guess, is the general public would not be informed. Please, I do not want to turn this into a conspiracy orgy or anything like that. I would simply like to know if anyone knows Government protocol for discovering remanence of intelligent life on Mars? I find the lastest photos from Spirit very interesting…to me it looks like a vast expanse of nothingness. Much like parts of the Southwestern US. I am fascinated by the clarity of the pics and the press this whole thing is getting…I wonder just how big an issue this is for us earthbound folk…meaning, we have now landed on mars and are exploring it! To me the implications are endless! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/2 "2004-01-16T16:36:42Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > My guess, is the general public would not be informed. Why in heaven’s name not? [For over a hundred years](http://www.techcentralstation.com/081503B.html) we have been looking for signs of life on Mars. From the 1890s onward reputable scientists (like Percival Lowell) and newspapers (The N.Y. Times and The Wall Street Journal, for instance) claimed that a system of artificial canals were visible on Mars, proving that intelligent life existed there. ---
**Author:** ![facil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@facil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/facil)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/3 "2004-01-16T16:53:24Z")
well, if we as human beings are anything, we are very consistant. we would probably kill whatever we find on mars with our own diseases and if that doesn’t work…there’s always nuclear surgical strikes against their major population centers, therefore destroying their infrastructure and disabling their economy ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/4 "2004-01-16T17:02:25Z")
Recent events leads me to believe the protocol would be this. If there’s even a whiff microbs may have existed at any time in the past, the President will declare it to be an eminent threat to the United States and proceed directly to military action. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/5 "2004-01-16T17:51:52Z")
Well, it’s quite obvious it would go down just about how any other major announcement would go down. NASA would schedule a news coference. Then leak to the press that they were going to announce life found on mars. Much jockeying for position and credit would go on within nasa, and the winners would be prominantly featured standing around behind the head NASA guy. The president would probably say a few things as well. This happened before, albeit prematurely, when they thought they found microbes on a Mars meteorite. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/6 "2004-01-16T18:08:03Z")
Depends. Do they have oil? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/7 "2004-01-16T18:27:42Z")
Some of the above comments are certainly not relevant to the OP and are outside the spirit and rules of GQ. As to the OP, I can’t answer; only ask further: if it were true would our enemies prefer either to (1) compromise the fact they can decrypt our radio transmissions just to call our government a liar, or (2) not embarass the US government to hide their decryption abilities. ---
**Author:** ![pcroughn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/977dab/32.png) [@pcroughn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pcroughn)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/8 "2004-01-16T18:36:27Z")
Skammer hit the nail on the head. 1. If we can exploit it, we will. 2. If it’s harmless, we’ll study it. 3. If not 1 or 2, we’ll kill it. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/9 "2004-01-16T18:36:20Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Let’s say the Spirit Rover stumbles on something completely unexpected…say an abandoned outpost for some sort of intelligent life… > I’m not necessarily talking little green men here, but as far as I know the government has contingency plans for everything. Since the number of bizarre and massively improbably contingencies is more or less infinite, it seems unlikely there’s a plan for all of them. > [@](#): > > My guess, is the general public would not be informed. For this to work, there would need to be a protocol by which a few trusted people carefully analyze each photo to decide if it can be released even to other NASA/JPL folks. And that protocol itself would need to be kept secret. Sounds challenging. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/10 "2004-01-16T19:03:30Z")
1. Withdraw. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/11 "2004-01-16T19:17:34Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Let’s say the Spirit Rover stumbles on something completely unexpected…say an abandoned outpost for some sort of intelligent life…I know the Rover will most likely only go 2000 yards total IIRC, but what if? It will become public knowledge one way or another. Too many people in NASA would be scrambling for credit (justifiably or not) for it to ever to remain a secret. I don’t know if there is any “protocol” for the process. A news conference is probably such an obvious course of action that it hardly needs one. And once we are past that it is not the responsibility of any single Government to make policy on. Mars and any life thereon is not U.S. property. Whether we screw it up or not is a different matter. I would imagine that attempts would be made to protect it. But equally attempts would be made to exploit it. Unfortunately our track record suggests we would inevitably make a mess somewhere along the line, regardless of intent. One thing you can be sure of, as this thread has already demonstrated. If the announcement is ever made and hits the SDMB, certain posters will use what may be the most significant discovery ever in recorded history to make irrelevant, off-topic and cheap political jibes. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Lagged2Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lagged2Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lagged2Death)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/12 "2004-01-16T19:27:46Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Let’s say the Spirit Rover stumbles on… an abandoned outpost for some sort of intelligent life. I’m not necessarily talking little green men here, but as far as I know the government has contingency plans for everything. My guess, is the general public would not be informed. But surely, if there were an actual policy, an actual worked-out-in-advance contingency plan to keep a secret like this, then that policy/plan would _itself_ have to be secret, meaning that the only available answers are either 1) No way would there be a coverup, or 2) a “conspiracy orgy” of the type you want to eschew. I always wanted to say “eschew.” ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/13 "2004-01-16T19:35:23Z")
The [SETI Project](http://seti.ssl.berkeley.edu/) has the a [declaration](http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/declaration.html) for what to do if they find evidence for E.T.s. Basically, they’ll tell everyone after independent confirmation. There is also an [international treaty](http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/SpaceLaw/outersptxt.htm), which the U.S. is a party to. Article XI basically requires nations publicize their discoveries. (woohoo! post #200!) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/14 "2004-01-16T19:46:37Z")
From that treaty: > [@](#): > > Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. > > States Parties to the Treaty undertake not to place in orbit around the earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, install such weapons on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space in any other manner. . . > > States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose. . . > > In order to promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, States Parties to the Treaty conducting activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, agree to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations as well as the public and the international scientific community, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, of the nature, conduct, locations and results of such activities. On receiving the said information, the Secretary-General of the United Nations should be prepared to disseminate it immediately and effectively. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/15 "2004-01-16T20:27:14Z")
Well, allow me to be the conspiracy-minded cynic here: > [@](#): > > to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, I see a lot of wiggle room there. All we have to do is say that not revealing such info. is not in the interests of National Security and, bingo, no sharing of info. Second, this ain’t SETI. This is NASA, a government organization. One with many, many, many ties to the military. I have no doubt that NASA and the US govt. would hush up such findings (i.e., ADVANCED alien life/artifacts) if they feared it would upset the current status quo in international relations, or if we could greatly profit from it by keeping it secret. Can you actually imagine them broadcasting pictures of rusting flying saucers? Or a giant (1920s-style) alien death-ray? Or a mountainside with the text of the Koran carved into its face in foot-high letters? They could hush it up, and they would, until they deemed it most profitable for us to reveal (if ever). Impossible to hush up? Nonsense. They already started encrypting the transmissions from the Shuttle down to earth, which many space enthusiasts used to listen to/watch. This would be a piece of cake. Just delete those picture files, point the rover in the opposite direction, extract secrecy agreements from everyone present, and never speak of it/send another mission there again. Now, if we found algae or bacteria or something equally basic … that they’d reveal right away. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/16 "2004-01-16T20:32:11Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > My guess, is the general public would not be informed. Carl Sagan’s _Contact_ is fiction, but it contains a fairly plausible depiction of what would happen if the military tried to clamp down on a discovery of this nature. Basically, the peer-review and informational-network nature of science would make keeping the secret impossible. Barring that, we could invade their planet, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/17 "2004-01-16T20:35:22Z")
> [@](#): > > **originally posted by _toad_** They could hush it up, and they would, until they deemed it most profitable for us to reveal (if ever). Impossible to hush up? Nonsense. They already started encrypting the transmissions from the Shuttle down to earth, which many space enthusiasts used to listen to/watch. This would be a piece of cake. Just delete those picture files, point the rover in the opposite direction, extract secrecy agreements from everyone present, and never speak of it/send another mission there again. This is basically what I was trying to get to, but didn’t. I think if they do find something out there, something they dod not want us to see, they will stop with the updated photo’s and everything including online updates will stop. Now what would this mean for the greater scheme of things? Relatively little, unless an iminent threat was ascertained. Which I highly doubt, as the probablility of it happening before now is quite high…Unless we disturb something up there. Either way you pitch the horse-shoe it’s interesting to think about the possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/18 "2004-01-16T20:39:18Z")
Quoth **Balthizar** : > [@](#): > > As to the OP, I can’t answer; only ask further: if it were true would our enemies prefer either to (1) compromise the fact they can decrypt our radio transmissions just to call our government a liar, or (2) not embarass the US government to hide their decryption abilities. What decryption? So far as I know, NASA’s transmissions to and from spacecraft are not encrypted at all. Which means that not just everyone in NASA, but everyone in the world with an antenna, would have to be in on the conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/19 "2004-01-16T20:45:17Z")
> [@aahala](#): > > If there’s even a whiff microbs may have existed at any time in the past, the President will declare it to be an eminent threat to the United States and proceed directly to military action. Do you mean _eminent_ or _imminent_? It makes a lot of difference in meaning. Sorry, I don’t normally do this, but it’s the kind of mistake that might be useful to have corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785/20 "2004-01-16T20:52:42Z")
_Space Shuttle Wireless: The critical role of wireless in launch, orbit, and re-entry_, by David Greer. [Part 1.](http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0MLY/5_3/104031474/p1/article.jhtml?term=) [Part 2.](http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0MLY/6_3/104031508/p1/article.jhtml) [Part 3.](http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0MLY/7_3/106174083/p1/article.jhtml) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-government-protocol-if-we-discover-life-on-mars/224785.md?page=2)