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In the year 1976, when Viking 1 space craft was taking photographs of possiable landing spots for Viking 2 spacecraft, they found a formation in a rock that looked like a human face. The shadows made the rock look like it had a nose, mouth, and two eyes, like a human. This was found in a region of the Red Planet called Cydonia. The "Head" was nearly two miles from end to end, and it seemed to be starring back at the cameras.

The controllers back at the Jet Propulsion Lab were probably quite surprised when this face popped up on their screens, looking them right in the eyes. This sensation was short lived. Scientist figured it was just another Martian mesa, which was common around Cydonia. The only difference with this one is it had unusal shadows that made it seem like an Egyptian Pharaoh. A few days later NASA unveiled the image for the public eye to see. The caption on this picture was "Huge rock formation... which resembles a human head.... formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes,nose and a mouth." NASA'S reasoning was that the picture would help engage public attraction to Mars.

This public picture was soon a pop icon. It starred in Hollywood films, was in books, magazines, talk shows on the radio, and even haunted grogery store checkout lines for over 25 years. Some people think that this picture is evidence of life on Mars. Conspiracy theorist say that this is information NASA would rather hide. Defenders of the NASA budget wish that there was life on Mars, as this would make NASA more popular, and even richer, when people use the picture in books, movies, magazines, and more.

Although most scientist believed the face was an alien artifact, photographing Cydonia became a priority to NASA, when Mars Global Surveyor arrived at the Red Planet eighteen long years after the Viking missions ended. Jim Garvin, cheif scientist, said that they felt like it was a right of taxpayers to see photographs of the face as soon as possiable. On April 5, 1998, Michael Malin snapped a photograph ten times sharper then the old one. This became popular with web surfers, as they were waiting for the first photo to show up on a JPL website. Only this picture showed what they were not wanting, a natural landform. This was not an alien momument after all.

While most people were satisfied, others were not. They still think that NASA is still hiding evidence of an alien momument. The Face on Mars is located at 41 degrees north martian latitude where it was winter in April 1998. The camera on board MGS had to peer though whispy clouds to see it. Perhaps, said skeptics, alien markings were hidden behind clouds on purpose, so that humans would not be able to see them. Mission controls planned to take another photograph of it. It is not easy work, and it is not easy to target Cydonia. They just do not pass the face very often.

Nevertheless, on April 8, 2001, a cloudless summer day in Cydonia, MGS drew close enough for a second veiw. They had to roll the spacecraft 25 degrees to center the face in the field of view.

They used the cameras highest resolution. Each pixel in the 2001 image spans at 1.56 meters, compared to 43 meters per pixel in the best 1976 Vikings photo."As a rule of thumb, you can discern things in a digital image three times bigger than the pixel size. So if there were objects on the ground such as airplanes or Egyptian-style pyramids or even small shacks, you could have seen what they were" Said Jim Garvin.

What the picture actually shows is the Martian equivalent of a butte or mesa, which are landforms that are common around the American West. "It reminds me of Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho" Says Garvin. "Thats a lava dome that takes the form of an isolated mesa about the same height of the Face on Mars." He added. So weather or not theFace is an alien landform or a rock formation, NASA does wish it was an alien landform, just to bring pupiclatiy to the Red Planet. However, it is highly imposable for it to be an alien momument, as they would have to have oxygen to survive,and they would have to find plenty of food and water to also survive.

Score: 2