Aug 2, 2007 NASA Disowns the conclusions drawn by the Government and Media

In a swift development, NASA clarified its stand and specifically denied that it had concluded anything about the origins of the Rama Setu, and clearly disowned the conclusions drawn by Government officials and Indian media.

In reply to an e-mail of Dr. S Kalyanaraman, Earthweb officials stated that the Astronaut-images did not provide information about the age of the Bridge and that their comments to SSCP officials should not have been treated as scientifically rigorous conclusions. They disassociated themselves from all such conclusions drwan by the SSCP officials and the Indian media a couple of days back, and termed those as "misinterpretation and misreporting" as well as "inappropriate".

Reproduced below is the complete text of the e-mail communication:

From: JSC-Earthweb <>
Date: Aug 2, 2007 3:24 AM
Subject: RE: Evidences for human activity in Rama Setu (Adam's bridge)

Thank you for contacting us regarding this issue. Our response to inquiries regarding Adam's Bridge is based solely on the information captured in the astronaut photography dataset. Astronaut photography does not provide information on the age of islands in the Palk Strait, nor can it provide information on the subsurface structure or composition of the islands. We therefore cannot speculate on the validity of other origin narratives for the Palk Strait islands.

Chains of islands typically form from a variety of natural geological processes and their occurrence, by themselves, is not evidence of any human activity. We offer no conclusion regarding the ultimate origin of the Palk Strait islands in the response that has been widely quoted, we simply state that island chains form by natural processes. Based on the vast majority of scientifically rigorous, published studies of island chains around the world this statement is valid. To interpret our response as a scientifically rigorous conclusion as to the nature of the Palk Strait islands is both a misinterpretation and misreporting of our response, and is inappropriate considering the limitations of our data.

Thank you for your interest in astronaut photography of Earth!

Earthweb
The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
NASA Johnson Space Center
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

Dr. Kalyanaraman had written to Earthweb:

From: kalyan97
Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2007 5:37 AM
To: JSC-Earthweb; earthweb@...
Subject: Evidences for human activity in Rama Setu (Adam's bridge)

For evidence of human activity from prehistoric times, there is a large body of resourcs (appended below). What does EarthWeb know about this? I am writing this in the context of a Press note released citing Earthweb (NASA) opinion.

I would like a clarification from Earthweb inquiring about the basis on which NASA pictures lead to a conclusion that there was no human activity in the area? The matter should be clarified so that there is no misreporting of Earthweb opinions as 'scientific fact' from NASA.

Please clarify.

Thanks and regards,

S. Kalyanaraman, Ph.D.
Director, Sarasvati Research Centre,
Chennai 600015 kalyan97@...

Do we expect too much from our responsible and matured media, in expecting propoerly reported and verified Truth? Had any of the National Dailies and TV Channels which had widely covered the news bothered to check the facts or clarified the matter with NASA/EarthWeb, before printing such headlines as "NASA debunks Ram sethu myth : Indian Express", "Ram Sethu not man made, says NASA : NDTV", and "Nasa to the rescue of Suez of East : Telegraph"? Can we now expect them to give equally warm and wide representation to the latest debunking of SSCP officials' conclusions by NASA?