The Catalyst from Mars

In April 1996, Huntress was working in his office when one of his science man­agers came to his door and said, “You ought to see this pre-print. It makes some remarkable claims.” “What is this?” Huntress asked. It was a possible Science magazine article about fossilized life in a Mars meteorite found in Antarctica, the manager said. It was written by a team of government and university scien­tists led by a NASA investigator, David McKay, based at Johnson Space Center.

While conscious that the idea of fossilized life in a Martian meteorite was directly relevant to the Origins theme he hoped to push, Huntress quickly dis­missed the article. There had been other claims about life on Mars over the years. “It won’t survive the peer review process at Science,” Huntress commented. “Come back when you have a print date,” he told his lieutenant. Huntress as­sumed that the paper would die and largely forgot the matter.10

Then, on July 12, the same manager appeared again at Huntress’s office door, obviously agitated, and announced that the article had survived peer review. It was going to be published. The manager handed Huntress the embargoed pre­publication copy, saying, “You need to know about this!” “My eyes bugged out,” Huntress recalled, as he looked at the article. It drew a number of strands of evidence together that made a compelling, if not absolutely convincing, case.11

Huntress immediately took the document to Goldin. “He came out of his chair,” Huntress remembered. “Is this right?” Goldin asked. “Did it get past peer review? Oh my God! I’ve got to see the president.”12

Goldin immediately set up a highly select (and secretive) task force to study the findings in the article and determine how to handle the public announce­ment. He also got an appointment with Clinton’s chief of staff, Leon Panetta, the former OMB head, for July 30. Goldin decided that NASA should keep the matter “contained” until the article came out, August 16. Then, NASA would hold a press conference, with McKay and his team present, along with a scien­tific “skeptic” to provide balance. Goldin did not want this announcement to come across as a NASA public relations stunt.13

However, the potential significance of the Mars meteorite discovery for sci­ence and NASA was obvious. It would give the Origins concept credibility. The search for life would have a centerpiece, and it would be Mars. The implications for accelerating Mars exploration and returning a sample were clear. But there was enough doubt about the fossilized bacteria claims that it would be a mistake to push for an Apollo-like search.14 Getting White House endorsement for ad­ditional Mars research and for Origins would reverse the unfavorable budget trends and counter OMB.

On July 30, Goldin and Huntress arrived at the White House. After brief­ing Panetta, they and Panetta went to the Oval Office and Clinton. It was 10 a. m., and Clinton initially seemed tired, but once he heard Goldin speak about the Mars rock, he became quite alert and attentive. As journalist Kathy Sawyer wrote in describing the scene, “The president’s posture straightened, and his eyes opened wide. It seemed to be dawning on him that this could be big.” The meeting lasted 30 minutes, and the president asked a number of questions. At the end, he told Panetta, “The vice president has got to hear this. Leon, take ’em to see the vice president.”15

Gore was equally fascinated once he heard Goldin’s story. Moreover, he “peppered” Goldin and Huntress with questions. He “asked about the age of the meteorite, when the purported Martian microbes would have been alive, and how that related to the initial bombardment of both Mars and Earth. He asked about the relative conditions that would have existed on Earth and Mars at the same time.” He wanted to know “whether this life-form, if it existed, could have evolved on Mars, how the McKay group’s result related to the Viking experi­ments of the 1970s, and what this new evidence in combination with the Viking results might mean for the possibility of current life on Mars.”

Gore also asked about the implications for future policy. Sawyer wrote, “Huntress was ready with the ‘Origins’ pitch.” That accomplished, they were ready to leave after what had been a 45-minute meeting. Before departing, Goldin pointed out that the announcement about the Mars meteorite would take place at the same time as the Republican national convention. Goldin wanted to know if that was a problem. Gore emphasized, “Follow Science’s pro­cess. Do not make this a political issue. Do not ever make this a political issue. This is a scientific discovery.”16

After the meeting, Goldin called McKay, based at JSC in Texas, and directed him to come to Washington for a meeting as soon as possible. The next day, July 31, McKay and a colleague on the meteorite team, Everett Gibson, sat in Goldin’s office. Goldin, flanked by Huntress, “pounded” the two with questions. The “grilling” went on “for three punishing hours.” At the end of the session, Goldin asked McKay, “Can I give you a hug?” The Mars rock was exactly what

Goldin wanted—a gift of “evidence [of Martian life] that could launch a big revival of public interest in space exploration.”17

Meanwhile, Dick Morris, Clinton’s friend and political advisor in the White House, heard about the Mars meteorite. He passed the information along to his mistress, who in turn sought to sell the information about extraterrestrial life to the media. Morris also began pushing Clinton to make a Kennedy-like decision for a crash human Mars mission. The president’s science advisor, Jack Gibbons, fought that possibility. “I said: ‘Hell no!’” he commented in retrospect. His message to Clinton was that Morris’s idea “would make us look like fools. We’d be sending a mission impossible.”18 Morris called Goldin to get his support for the crash venture. Nobody wanted more to go to Mars than Goldin, but, as Sawyer wrote, Goldin felt he had to be honest. He explained to Morris that a venture to the Red Planet was simply not technically or fundamentally feasible under current circumstances.19

NASA’s hope to contain the news failed—the leak occurred, but not necessar­ily via the Morris mistress. Not only did the White House know, but also senior lawmakers concerned with space had been informed. By early August, the story was getting out in bits and pieces, and Science and NASA were blaming each other. With the story poised to break fully in the print and television media, and both Science and NASA wanting some semblance of accuracy, NASA had little choice but to act.

On August 7, NASA held a hastily arranged press conference at its Washing­ton headquarters. Numerous officials from NASA and the administration were present, along with a McKay meteorite team. Goldin had a startling announce­ment to make. The research team believed that it had discovered credible evi­dence of fossilized Martian microbiological life in an ancient meteorite found in Antarctica.

For two years, the scientists explained, they had been examining the rock using the most sophisticated equipment available. The team found a number of factors that, taken together, pointed to fossil microbiology. They had a peer-reviewed article coming out in Science on August 16, explaining, in-depth, their findings.20

Goldin made sure he noted various caveats about the claim and the need for further confirmation by the scientific community. As planned, a skeptical sci­entist who had read the article was present at the conference to give dissenting views. But Goldin could not control his excitement. “We’re now at the doorstep of the heavens. What a time to be alive!” he exclaimed.21

Goldin had invited Jerry Soffen of Viking to the conference and pointed out that he had pioneered in Mars-life research and that “we all stand today” on his shoulders.22 Everyone present was fascinated with the announcement and anxious to know how certain the scientists were of their findings. Many congres­sional leaders were said to be “almost childlike in their excitement about the possibilities and very humble about the news.”23 Gore was fully engaged, and Clinton made a statement to the media that day: “If the discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered. The implications are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can be imagined.”24

Clinton said he “was determined that the American space program will put its full intellectual power and technological prowess behind the search for fur­ther evidence of life on Mars.” Vice President Gore, he went on, would convene a bipartisan space summit of national political leaders to consider an appropriate response.

This “summit” was based on the one for which Senator Mikulski had earlier called. She was concerned about NASA’s cuts in money and human resources. Clinton was now agreeing to the summit, with the Mars meteorite his stated reason. Goldin was extremely careful not to say anything about needing “more money” to follow up on the Mars rock. He did say that NASA would reexamine the Mars Surveyor Program strategy in view of the meteorite. He indicated that NASA might accelerate the program’s timetable for MSR.25