The Face of Mars was a historic discovery, and not because it was a new kind of land form. When the photo was first released, many thought it was an alien structure and that it proved there once was life on Mars. NASA then worked harder to understand the strange picture and to change the opinion of skeptics who tried to make it an ancient temple.

The first photo that was released was a low quality picture and the strange shadows gave it the look of a face. NASA began to obsess about the face and they began to get better and better resolution photos. It became more apparent that the face was just a mesa, which were common in the area. Skeptics insisted that NASA proves that is just a hill and NASA continued finding out more about the mesa. as the resolution improved, nearly all second-guessers were silenced. This happened because scientists were convinced that this landform was much like the Middle Butte in Idaho, which was most definately not made by aliens.

The Face did change how some people looked at the possibility of life on Mars. After the initial controversy, it was likely that the "alien" building was just a hill. Some still are skeptical even with the overwelming evidence, but they are also drowned out by those who know it was just an optical illusion. NASA proved that if there was ever life on Mars, it did not make the Face.