Alien 'Face' Recedes Into Martian Myth
 Space: NASA photo appears to show a naturally weathered mesa. Some have
speculated it is work of alien civilization.
 04/07/98
 Los Angeles Times
A new high-resolution portrait of the so-called face on Mars, released Monday
by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reveals the enigmatic feature in 10
times greater detail than previously available, showing the eroding features
of what appears to be a natural geologic formation.
The more detailed image of the Cydonia region of Mars, where the surface
feature was first photographed by the Viking space probe in July 1976, was
taken over the weekend by the Mars Global Surveyor as it prepares to
systematically map the solar system's fourth planet.
In the years since the indistinct Viking images first captured the public
imagination, a veritable cottage industry has sprung up around the mile-long
feature. Several books and scholarly articles speculated that it might be
evidence of ancient Martian civilization, even as NASA steadfastly maintained
it was nothing more than a trick of light.
The image, often dramatically enhanced to heighten its resemblance to a face,
became a staple of supermarket tabloid covers. As the ominous visage of an
ethereal space being, it achieved minor stardom as a character in an "X-
Files" episode.
Aware of the intense interest in the site, JPL took unusual measures to make
it clear that the space agency did not alter the data that went into the
computer-generated image by posting the raw data on the Internet as soon as
it was received, officials said.
"There've been charges of conspiracy and manipulating the data and we want to
make it very clear to everybody that no such activity goes on here," said
Glenn E. Cunningham, Global Surveyor project manager. "We put the raw data
out there so that anybody can . . . process it any way they want."
NASA officials said Monday that the agency would also take no official
position on what the image shows, leaving any interpretation to the
scientific community.
Several planetary scientists and project engineers said Monday that for them,
the new image contained no surprises and no evidence of artificial origin.
"It looks to me like a hill that has been weathered," said Michael Ravine,
advanced projects manager at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, which
built the Surveyor camera and processes the images. "It is consistent with
the previous image and there is more detail. There have pretty clearly been
episodes of erosion and deposition" that caused the distinctive shape of the
mesa.
"I don't see anything artificial in it," Ravine said. "If I had seen anything
that looked obviously artificial, I would be happy to admit I was wrong,
because it would be really, really great. But it just isn't there."
Arden Albee, Global Surveyor project scientist at Caltech, concurred.
"In my own judgment, I would interpret the [face] as natural erosional
features. There are layers of relatively soft material that have been eroded.
That is my own judgment as a geologist and planetary scientist."
The site, located in the northern hemisphere of Mars, lies at the boundary
between ancient uplands and low-lying plains.
The Global Surveyor probe is scheduled to photograph the area again April 14
and April 23.
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