The theme of the sculpture has intrigued scholars ever since its discovery over forty years ago. The present day interpretation, that the figure of Pakal is falling into the jaws of a fleshless monster somehow does not satisfy this author's visual perception. He appears to be leaning forward over a control panel as many authors have also perceived before. Based upon that perception, we have analyzed and illustrated the design elements of the Pakal sculpture from the perspective of simple mechanics. We have given movement to the elements within the sculpture's image and in that manner see appear something that resembles a space craft.
Many contemporary authors do read the existence of spacecraft into some of the historical documents.
Those readings are rejected generally by the academic community. However, in the visual rendering of Pakal's vehicle, a geometrical analysis seems to offer more of a solution to the enigma, than a semantic rendering of ancient texts. We also analyze the visual images encoded into the Pakal sculpture. It would appear that the Pakal sculpture represents a virtual map of the Cosmos. Furthermore, it would appear that the Pakal sculpture reflects images that form part of the ancient folklore.