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Although the news media was not allowed access to the crash site, photos
released by NASA show a thick broken red ceramic material at the forward end
of the crash site. Scientist Geddy Lee explained that the
material is terra cotta, a low temperature, iron rich clay material used in
making cheap Mexican pottery and sewer lines. It was apparently also used by
the aliens to protect the metal hulls of their ship from overheating from
friction as they fell into the Earth's atmosphere at high speed.
"The fact that they used a disposable heat shield made of this material has
several important implications," said Alex Lifeson, also of NASA. One is that
they have no plans on leaving Earth, he said. Two is that they have more of
these shields on a mother ship somewhere not far away. Three is that they
don't need to use such shields on their home world. Four is that the shield
is emergency equipment for a craft that was not intended for atmospheric
flight and landing. "The fifth possibility is that they are just cheap and didn't want to spend
more money on higher quality ceramics," Neil Peart of NASA said. The nearest
extraterrestrial sources for the terra cotta is Mars, and the Asteroid Belt. Radiocarbon tests of charred oak trees at the crash site put the crash date
sometime in the summer of 1984. The trajectory of the landing indicates that
the craft was heading southeast towards Los Angeles, but fell short of its
goal.
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