San Antonio UFO Crash Case

Recently, two men, Jose Padilla and Reme Baca, claimed that in late August 1945, when they were 9 and 7 years old, respectively, they found a crashed alien ship near San Antonio, NM. The craft, they alleged, was about 35 feet in diameter and about 15 feet high. It had fallen during a thunderstorm, and created a half-mile trench in the ground. Pieces of debris lay nearby. Inside the strange ship, Baca said he observed thin bodied creatures which reminded him of praying mantises. Padilla mentioned three "little men" who rushed back and forth as if they were injured. The boys also claimed to have handled metal which when bent returned to its original shape.

Two days after the alleged sighting, the boys returned to find the occupants gone but the UFO still there. The military arrived and asked to cut a gap in a fence to retrieve a "weather balloon." Around that time, Padilla supposedly went into the craft and pulled an aluminum bracket out. Years later, when analyzed under a microscope, the piece displayed "tiny fossils" or structures suggestive of microcircuitry.

This case is not credible. Like a number of others, it appears to be a hoax, mimicking Roswell. The crash during a thunderstorm, the gouge in the ground, the "memory foil," the injured occupants, the balloon story, all point to a copycat fable. The least the hoaxers could've done is show more originality. Unlike the real crash, San Antonio is based on just two alleged witnesses. What took Padilla and Baca so long to bring their story, and "saucer piece" to the attention of the UFO community? Roswell witnesses had already come forward 20-33 years ago. The real answer is that hoaxers have been inventing stories like this for many years, and it takes time to prepare each new fable.

Terrestrial and (potential) Martian Biospheres--a Contrast

NASA may be poised to announce evidence for unearthly life, perhaps in a meterorite from Mars, or in terrain investigated by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

Generally, it may be futile to search for life on the surface of Mars. Such a search reflects the terrestrial biosphere. Because temperature increases rapidly with depth, areas deep underground are too hot for life. Earth's biosphere is essentially limited to its upper crust. The surface is hospitable, and has nurtured abundant life.

On Mars, things are the reverse. The Martian surface is bitterly cold, heavily irradiated with UV and cosmic rays, and loaded with oxidants, which destroy organic compounds. Yet, unlike Earth's interior, that of Mars seems habitable. Because Mars long ago lost most of its internal heat, in the great eruptions of late Hesperian times, areas deep underground are certain to be cooler. Between the uppermost frozen layer, the cryosphere, and the core of the planet, there is probably a wide region where temperatures are between the freezing and boiling points of water. Remarkably, despite the small size of Mars, the habitable subsurface zone may accomodate a biosphere which approaches that of Earth in extent or volume. Conceivably, the Martian biomass may be from 10-50% as great as the terrestrial. This is possible in part because the Martian interior harbors vast reservoirs of liquid water. According to one estimate, only about 10% of the original subsurface H2O was lost due to outflow events such as those that formed the circumchrysean channels. Even if less than half of the water inventory remains underground in liquid form, it is certainly enough to nurture a great biosphere.

If Martian life arose concurrently with life on Earth, it might have evolved well beyond the level of microorganisms. Various plants and invertebrates may lurk in the great hydrothermal systems. Some evidence supports the existence of a hidden biomass. Inasmuch as methane is a byproduct of life, recent release of the gas into the Martian atmosphere suggests an underground, inhabited source.