NARRATOR: Was Mars
a fertile planet
teeming with life thousands or
perhaps millions of years ago?
And if so, could the planet
be modified in such a way
that it could
sustain human life?
It is NASA's stated
goal to send astronauts
to Mars in the 2030s.
But while humanity's
efforts to colonize space
are well underway, there is
still a tremendous amount
of planning and
scientific groundwork
to be done before we can truly
begin to populate alien planets
with large numbers of humans.
Right now, we're basically
just tourists in space.
We take everything
we need with us.
And in order to make
the next giant leap,
you're going to actually have
to start using the materials
that you find in space
to help you explore, OK?
As soon as you make that step
to use the materials that
are available to you
on the surface, now
you're truly a pioneer.
There's a number
of resources that
are already available to us.
And then, of course,
we're going to want
to start planting things.
We're going to
have to grow food.
We're going to have to live
off the land the best we can.
NARRATOR: Live off
the land on Mars?
According to NASA,
innovations in technology
will be able to make
the Martian landscape
more hospitable to humans
than was previously believed.
But could this same adjustment
to a planet's environment
be similar to what
extraterrestrials
could have accomplished
here on Earth centuries ago?
Ancient-astronaut
theorists say yes
and suggest that stories from
nearly every ancient culture
prove this audacious
notion to be true.
One of the strangest
traditions in South America is
with the Kayapo
people in Brazil,
and they have this legend
of the Bep-Kororoti,
who came down from the
sky in a lot of noise
and wind and landed his craft.
He then taught the people
knowledge of civilization,
of herbs and
medicine, of building
and agriculture and crops.
And today the Kayapo people
celebrate him every year,
and a priest dresses up
in this outlandish outfit
that looks like a space suit.
So you have to wonder, where
are they getting these ideas
of people in space suits if not
from some extraterrestrials who
landed there in
the distant past?
Today, we are on the verge
of going to other planets
and seeding them with life,
and it makes complete sense
that something like that
happened on our planet
in the very distant past.
