'Was he for real?': The internet erupts as a US congressman asks a senior Nasa panel if aliens lived on Mars 'thousands of years ago' California Republican Dana Rohrabacher queried whether an alien civilisation lived on Mars 'thousands of years ago', asking Nasa officials 'would you rule that out?' After he was told by a panel member that an ancient colony on Mars was 'extremely unlikely', the internet erupted with responses to the bizarre exchange, with one commenter asking: 'Was he for real?' Mars was far wetter and warmer billions of years ago, and scientists have spent decades studying its soil and atmosphere to determine if it once held life.