Ask An Astrobiologist
Our Astrobiologist buddy over at the NASA site is at it again. This is almost as good as watching a car wreck, unless the person asking the question is joking. The sad thing is, I don’t think it’s a joke.
Q: Hi NASA, I recently came to know that some of the space telescope’s captured alien’s photos, like some lady running on a planet mars…is that true….the photos are taken by NASA ROVER…This is really intresting to know…can you tell me about this…
A: The Hubble Space Telescope has never taken a photo of aliens, and neither have any of our planetary spacecraft such as the current Mars rovers and orbiters. I don’t know what you mean by the phrase “came to know about”, but it sounds as if you have been taken in by the fake photos and stories that appeared regularly in tabloids on supermarket check stands — although most of the fiction-printing tabloids have gone out of business lately. Maybe you have been looking at the successors of these tabloids on the Internet. In any case, I can assure you that any claims that NASA has photographed an alien are lies. Perhaps you have also seen the amusing photo of a lump of soil that looks like a tiny statue of a woman — reminding me of the famous little mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbor. If you really think this is a photo of an alien woman, all I can advise is “lighten up”!
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
07 February 2008
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Feb 11 2008 
February 11th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Odd, they about the Mars photo but Morrison’s first point is that ‘Hubble Space Telescope has never taken a photo of aliens’. The original question has clearly been truncated, though, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Couldn’t NASA at least point that thing at the cracks in Europa’s ice for a while and see if anything surfaces for air…?
;)
February 11th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
His comment or statment seems a tad defensive and mildly irrate to me …although i have seen the images in question and the concept fills me with wonder and facination i struggle to subscribe to the idea that these pics show what they claim to show..i remain open minded though..
February 11th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
i have seen the images in question and although the concept fascinates me and fills me with a sense of wonder i find it difficult to subscribe to this concept as a fact..i remain open minded having said that…comment by astro mildly defensive and almost irritable i think …
February 11th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
“almost irritable”? the guy practically told that poor person that he/she is an idiot! No wonder his dayjob deals with celestial objects, he has not patience for lower things… like people.
I may be harsh here, but it’s just that I don’t picture someone like Carl Sagan giving such a coarse remark; after all a lot of people out there may be ill-informed, or even delusional, but this kind of attitude is not going to encourage them to approach more to Science for answers.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
It’s hard to ignore the question here. Look at the misspellings, improper punctation, etc. It’s really hard to understand that NASA would present this as is without proper editing. Obviously, they are not out to make a fair argument–instead, they chose a poor email to represent this question. Imagine all the emails they have received regarding this. Instead, this genius gets to tear a 14 year old apart. Pathetic.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I also noticed the poor spelling and punctuation but thought nothing of it but it does seem odd that this would be released in this very relaxed format with out apparent editing and correct presentation…..
February 12th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
The most disturbing thing here is that a Senior Scientist has been tasked with responding to softballs and trolls on the net. Way to delegate!
February 12th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
The question seems to be formed by someone (possibly a young person) who’s first language is not English. I’ve had lots of experience with ESOL students and the phrasing seems very familiar.
I don’t get the “lighten up” comment though (isn’t that what the “kid” is doing?). Senior scientist or no, the guy is being a bit of an arse. It’s clearly a statue of an alien and not a live one.
And now for a completely different take…
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/evidence-reports/2008/134/rover-statue-or-person.htm
February 13th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Obviously most folks here have never worked inside a Federal bureaucracy. No senior official who’s interested in keeping his position is going to answer a blog. A public relations specialist, likely a communications major, answered the blog after being given official guidelines for responses on the issue on extraterrestrial life. A really good ghost rider will study the voice of the author and phrase the responses to even sound like the person they are ghosting for. Most really in-depth questions about any sensitive subject are dodged or deflected to another dept. If the mothership appeared over Washington and landed on the Capitol Bldg squashing all the Congressmen inside(I can dream,can’t I?!), NASA’s response would be that they’d have to study the data and it would be years before they could give a definitive answer, if ever.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
or maybe the “lighten up” should be taken literally…a direction.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I mean, maybe mr. astrobiologist is giving subversive clues in his answers.
Just teasing. But that “lighten up” thing is kind of weird and doesn’t really make any sense, as the 14 year ESL kid isn’t going all hardcore.