Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) asked about civilizations on Mars during a July 18 House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee hearing. (House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology)

Some of NASA's brightest minds were invited to Capitol Hillon Tuesday to tellmembers of Congress about water that once ran across Mars, and the possibility of life on Europa and missions to explore them.

Good questions, the chairman of the space subcommittee said after an hour or so. Then he turned the microphone over toRep.Dana Rohrabacher, who would savehismost important question for the end.

Thank you, the California Republicanbegan.

One of the benefits, I should say, of your activities, is that, well you have all these robots all over the universe and beyond.

Aboy seated behind Rohrabacherhad been fiddling with his hair, butnow looked up at the congressman.

Let me just note, Rohrabacher said by way of disclaimer, that I've been around for a while.

So he had.

Elected to his office14 consecutive times, hehas sat on the House Space and Technology Committee for decades and run for the chairmanship at least twice, without success.

I love science,Rohrabacher once told Science Magazine.

His passion for the subjectis occasionally expressed in puzzling ways.

Rohrabacher once told a hearing that dinosaur flatulence might have caused global warming a bad joke, he said later.

In a 2014 speech titled Global Warming as a Power Grab, herailed againstthe government putting fluoride into our water.

[No, NASA is not hiding kidnapped children on Mars]

On Tuesday, seated across from NASA officials planning missions to Mars, a moon aroundJupiter and an asteroid between them,Rohrabacher shared his thoughts on space with them.

The space shuttle and space station programs were inspiring, he said but also very expensive.

NASA had a lot of projects going on, he said. Maybe too many; the agency should prioritizemore though, he said, I'm certainly not an expert enough to tell you what those priorities should be.

He asked about NASA's plan to land a rover on Mars in 2020 and aboutMartianrocks and space fuel. He said we should go back to the moon.

And then, atthe end, the most important thing.

I ask for permission for one minute for this question, Rohrabachersaid.

It was granted, and he began.

[A ridiculous YouTube video claiming we found aliens kept making the news, so NASA debunked it]

You have indicated that Marswas totally different thousands of years ago, he told the scientists.

Behind him, the boy whispered something to a seat mate.

The congressman continued: Is it possible that therewas a civilization on Mars thousands of years ago?

Silence filled the room,

A scientist with the Mars 2020 project,Kenneth Farley, leanedtoward his microphone and ventureda reply.

So, the evidence is that Mars was different billions of years ago. Not thousands of years ago, Farley said.

Billions, well. Yes, Rohrabacher said.

Hebegan to formanother word, but Farley cut him off.

There's no evidence that I'm aware of.

The scientistdid not mention that he had already explained this half an hour earlier, when he told thepanel that ancient Mars once hadrivers, lakes and hot springs but that nothingmore advanced than microbes was likely to havelivedthere.

And yet, Rohrabacher persisted.

Would you rule that out? he asked. See, there's some people, well, anyway "

I would say that is extremely unlikely, Farley said.

Okay. Well.

Rohrabacher still had 30 secondsto ask about ancient civilization, but he gave upat that point.

Thank you for the good job you're doing, he told the scientists. God bless.

The next congressman to address the hearingwould quote a 19th century poem For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see and wonder aloud about the meaning of life.

But when reporters wrote about Tuesday'shour-and-a-half discussion, they wrote mostly about Rohrabacher's final minute.

No, Congressman, There's No Evidence of an Ancient Mars Civilization, wrote Space.com, noting for good measure that previous reports of canals and a sculpturedface on the Red Planet had also been debunked.

Ars Technica accused thecongressman ofmarring an otherwise respectable discussion, and recalledthat earlier this month a NASA official had been forcedto denyrumors that children were being kidnapped to the planet.

Other outlets were even less kind to Rohrabacher, whose officesuggested toThe Washington Post that aswith the dinosaur comment in 2007 the congressman had notseriously entertained the notion.

Because of his position on the space committee, he not infrequently gets inquiries about this from far and wide, Rohrabacher's spokesman, Ken Grubbs, wrote in an email Wednesday.

He was looking for something definitive. Apparently, many of those who covered the exchange didnt hear the wink in his voice.

A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed aSpace.com story to Science.com.

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NASA wanted to talk about science. A congressman wanted to ask about Martian civilizations. - Washington Post